Blackberry and apple jam recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 237 comments
It was Anne Mary that pointed out that apple and blackberry jam would be full of blackberry pips.
“They’d get stuck in your teeth and drive you mad. Stick to bramble jelly.”
I love jelly. We make loads of jelly every year. More often than not it is used as a base for a sauce rather than dolloped on a plate of roast lamb or pork.
Imagine my delight when I found this recipe for Blackberry and Apple Jam in my aunt’s ancient handwritten cookbook. As it is sieved there are no seeds and the jam is delicious, spread on hot buttered toast in the morning.
Blackberry and Apple Jam recipe
Ingredients:
- 1k (roughly 2lb) of blackberries
- 350g (12ozs) of apples (eating apples, windfalls are fine)
- Water
- White granulated sugar
Method:
- Core and roughly chop the apples (skin on).
- Put the apples, cores and blackberries in a large preservaing pan or large heavy bottomed saucepan. Add just enough water to cover and simmer until soft.
- Sieve the softened fruit and weigh the sieved pulp (discard the skins and seeds left in the sieve). Add 450g (1lb) of sugar for each 450g (1lb) of sieved pulp.
- Put sieved pulp and sugar into a large heavy bottomed saucepan (or preserving pan) and heat very gently until the sugar has dissolved.
- Bring the jam to the boil and continue to boil very rapidly for about 8-10 minutes until the jam reaches setting point. (What is setting point? See tricks and tips below).
- When the jam has set, carefully pour into warm, sterilised jars, using a ladle or small jug (How to sterilise jars? See tricks and tips below)
- Cover the jars with tight fitting screw-top lids, or waxed disks and cellophane pot covers (waxed disks, wax facing downwards and plastic covers secured with plastic bands).
- Label when cold and store in a cool, dark place, away from damp.
Tricks and Tips:
- Jam “set” or “setting point”:
Getting the right set can be tricky. I have tried using a jam thermometer but find it easier to use the following method. Before you start to make the jam, put a couple of plates in the fridge so that the warm jam can be drizzled onto a cold plate (when we make jam we often forget to return the plate to the fridge between tests, using two plates means that you have a spare cold plate). Return the plate to the fridge to cool for approx two minutes. It has set when you run your finger through it and leave a crinkly track mark. If after two minutes the cooled jam is too liquid, continue to boil the jam, testing it every few minutes until you have the right set. The jam is far more delicious if it is slightly runny. - Sterilising the jars:
We collect jars all year round for our jelly, chutney and jam making sessions. I try to soak off labels and store the clean jars and metal plastic coated screw-top lids in an accessible place. The sterilising method that we used is simple. Just before making the jam, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
Leave a reply
Hi Louisa,
How dissapointing.
This problem came up for another visitor to the blog at the weekend. It has also happened to me in the past. The problem, I suspect is where you are storing your preserves.
The first year that I made preserves there was no room in the larder so I put them into a large tin chest in an insulated shed in the garden. The preserves were ruined within months. NThe changes of temperature caused condensation within the chest. Disaster. The visitor at the weekend had been syoring her preserves in a cold damp cellar.
Homemade preserves need to be stored in a cool, dry environmet (ours are now kept in boxes in the spare bedroom, it’s not particularly warm in there but it is dry). Supermarket preserves are “canned”. If you do this the jars of preserves will last for ages but I think that the boiling affects the flavour. Canning is very big in America.
I do hope that this helps.
Hi everyone, just after some advice, disaster has struck the jam and jellies i made earlier this year for chritmas presents all seem to be mouldy. i sterilised the jars in the oven and boiled the lids, does anyone know where i’m going wrong? Any help would be appreciated don’t want the same happening nexy year. Good job i’ve got the sloe gin to fall back on.
Hi Virginia,
Thanks so much for leaving an update!
I am delighted that our recipe worked for you. You can make your own labels using address labels if you have a printer. We have a post on this here https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=94
Hi
I asked you a few weeks ago if I could still make this jam with berries that had been frozen and you asked me to let you know how I got on – well I made it yesterday and got 20 (!) jars of delicious and what’s more SET jam – not only is this a triumph, but it was my first attempt at jam making and it was SO easy to follow your recipe – thank you SO much!! Plenty of Christmas presents just waiting for labels now! Virginia
Hi Joanna,
The blackberries came and went so quickly in this neck of the woods too.
Glad that you are enjoying the blog.
I seemed to miss all the blackberries this year, but thats just the riceipe I was looking for. Enjoyinh looking round your blog.
Hi Mary
Your spiced jelly sounds great! What a good idea to put the fruit through a passata machine, sieving can be a bit laborious. Hope the fruit cheese works out well!
Thanks for your advice, I have followed your quince cheese recipe with by blackberry and apple pulp and it is currently in the simmering oven of the AGA. Actually the pulp is a real ‘leftover’ mixture including crab apples, eating and cooking apples, a couple of odd quinces, a bag of frozen fruits of the forest that must of been in the freezer for years all topped up with blackberrys that I had previously frozen and a bit of fresh ginger. I made jelly I made from the juice adding more spices when I added the sugar and it has made lovely spiced jelly, so fingers crossed the cheese will be as nice. Rather than passing the pulp through a sieve I put it through my passata machine, so much easier and one gadget I am pleased I invested in some years ago.
Hi Virginia,
I have frozen fruit and used it later to make jam, jelly, chutney etc. All fine.
I am no expert so can’t give the definitive answer to your question. Personally I would go for it.
If you do, really interested in hearing about how you got on, along with all those people out there who are thinking about the same conundrum!
Thanks for leaving a comment. Much appreciated.
Hi
Recipe sounds great – what’s even better is that you reply to questions! well done!
My question is that I have about 6lb of blackberries, picked over the last 2 months, stored in the freezer – will I still be able to make this jam? I read somewhere, jam won’t work so well if the berries have been frozen. Thanks V