Blackberry jelly

Wild fruit has been bountiful this year. During the month of August we foraged over 4 kilos of blackberries. We could have had much, much more; but it was all we could fit in our freezer. Besides, we didn’t want to be greedy – we left lots for other people and hungry birds.

We make blackberry jelly and mixed berry jelly every year; along with a few jars of wild raspberry jelly if we harvest enough of those. Blackberry jelly isn’t the kind of thing you can normally pick jars up of in the supermarkets. I’ve no idea why, it’s dark and delicious and doesn’t cost much to make. All you have to fork out for is some white sugar and a few lemons!

I normally use a recipe in my old Cordon Bleu Preserving recipe book, but this time I found the dead easy Quick Bramble Jelly recipe in Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course.

Next week Thursday, our Cakes & Bakes post will be about what we’ve been eating our jelly with… stay tuned!

Blackberry jelly

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Ingredients

1 kilo blackberries
1 kilo granulated sugar
3 lemons un-waxed

Instructions

Rinse & drain the blackberries in a colander in the sink
Put the berries into a heavy-based saucepan or preserving pan with 400ml/14 fl oz of water and cook on a low heat with a lid on for 20-25 minutes
Occasionally give them a mash to reduce them to pulp and squeeze as much juice out of them as possible
Still on a low heat, add the sugar and squeezed lemons (the entire lemon - seeds, juice and actual lemon!) to the pan and stir until all the sugar has dissolved completely (about 10-15 minutes)
Turn the heat right up and boil fairly rapidly for 8-10 minutes, stirring now and then to prevent it from sticking to the base of the pan
Carefully pour or ladle the blackberry mixture into a jelly strainer set over a large heat-proof bowl or saucepan (you could also use a square of muslin set into a strainer over the bowl/saucepan)
Using a wooden spoon, get all the liquid through as quickly as possible, squeezing the remaining pulp as much as you can - but do be quick, as the jelly sets if you take too long (if it does begin to set before you've had a chance to put it into the jar, just gently reheat it)
Decant the jelly into sterilised jars, cover with waxed discs and allow to cool before screwing the lids down tightly
The jars should store for a year or more

Keyword blackberries, jelly, preserves

Mixed berry jelly

There’s been a bumper crop of big, juicy wild blackberries this summer. We had a 2-hour long session of picking last Sunday and returned home with around 3 kilos of fruit – not counting the half kilo that Fudge picked & ate on the spot. We were sure he was going to make himself sick!

We planted a few fruit bushes in our garden this spring – one each of blackcurrant, redcurrant, whitecurrant and raspberry.

They looked like beautiful little jewels drooping from the branches.

Our garden hauls weren’t great, but we put everything in the freezer with the view to using them later in the year.

We added them to the wild berries gathered on our dog walks and ended up with an interesting mix of berries.

I’d already made some wild raspberry jelly last month which was absolutely delicious – especially spread between sponge cake layers. Justin requested a mixed berry jelly rather than jam – neither of us care to get seeds stuck in our teeth! We got 6 nice jars of jelly which is enough to last the winter. We’ll gift a couple of jars and still have plenty left for cake making, fruit sauces, toast etc…

…and probably our favourite way to eat it – a lazy weekend breakfast with newspapers, strong coffee and fresh croissants!

Jelly making

I’ve just finished my first batch of summer jelly making.

Anyone following our Instagram feed will be aware of the hedgerow foraging in which I’ve been partaking over the past few weeks. The weeks of hot, sunny weather combined with some heavy downpours have made for a bumper wild fruit crop.

From the start of the wild raspberry season I was picking the fruit (I even managed to find a few white raspberries), rinsing them in a colander under the kitchen tap, freezing them… and then doing the same the next day, and the next, and the next until I had three 1-litre tubs full.

Jelly making day had arrived! I love the taste of raspberry preserve but I much prefer seedless jelly to jam.

I received this Tala jam straining kit, jelly bag replacement and wax discs from the nice people at the Craft Company. They have everything you could need to get started on your jam & jelly making odyssey!

Prior to having these, I was using a home-made contraption consisting of some muslin, a pair of chopsticks… it wasn’t a pretty sight!

The straining kit worked a treat. Simple to assemble and no mess and stains on the counter tops for a change!

I (loosely) followed a recipe I found in Cordon Bleu Preserving (it’s currently available at a penny!)

INGREDIENTS

1.5 kg wild raspberries, rinsed & drained
1 kg jam sugar (as opposed to ‘normal’ granulated sugar it contains pectin to help with setting and citric acid as a preservative)
1 litre water

METHOD

Put the raspberries into a large jam/preserving pan with the water and cook gently on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the fruit becomes a soft pulp
While the raspberries are cooking, set up your straining kit and place it over another saucepan (see photo above)
Carefully turn the cooked fruit out of the preserving pan into the jelly bag and allow to drip through overnight. Do not force it through as this turns the finished product cloudy
Measure out the juice and add the jam sugar (the ratio is 1lb of sugar to every pint of juice or 500g to 600ml)
Turn the sugar and juice back into the preserving pan and set on a low heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved
Turn up the heat & boil rapidly until the jelly sets (see photo above). If you have a jam thermometer, the temperature should reach 104°C/220°F
Decant into sterilised jars, cover each with a wax disc then screw the lid on once cooled

The quantity makes about 4½ jars-worth. Some for us and a couple of jars for presents.

We tucked in straight away with scones, clotted cream and a cup of tea each! We’ll be using the rest for morning toast & croissants. It will also make the perfect filling for a Victoria sponge.

The wild raspberry season round here is more or less done now but fat, juicy blackberries are just beginning to appear. I’ve already been stockpiling!

[disclosure*]

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: jelly

Blackberry jelly

Blackberry jelly

Ingredients

Instructions

Mixed berry jelly

Jelly making