Blueberry and blackberry jam recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 10 comments
Photo: Toast and blueberry and blackberry jam
“Why are you letting the raspberries rot on the canes? The birds are getting the blueberries and I haven’t seen you pick more than a handful of blackberries this year.”
Danny is generally fairly easy going so this remark was a bit of a surprise. He was right about the fruit though, I’ve been distracted by other things. What a terrible waste.
Suitably chastised I slunk down to the fruit cage and picked a bowl of raspberries. The Autumn fruiting raspberries have a much better flavour than the summer ones and will keep on fruiting until the first frosts. We grow Autumn Bliss but having a nose on The Thompson and Morgan website just now I discovered a new raspberry called Polka that produces up to 2.5 kilos of fruit per cane, is related to Autumn Bliss and fruits for longer. Perhaps if I promise hand on heart to harvest raspberries every day I will be allowed to order some in November.
Needless to say all the raspberries were used for Raspberry vodka. The next load will be made into jam. 2010 is definitely my jam making year and I’m loving it. Jam is so versatile and if it’s really tasty can be used in fresh fruit tartlets, pumped into brioche and stirred into muffins. I can’t wait to start experimenting using jam in cooking but at the moment I’m concentrating totally on creating a decent range of jam recipes and stocking up our larder for the next year.
After I’d picked the raspberries, I harvested all the remaining blueberries and as many blackberries that I could find. We have a large half barrel that is home to three blueberry bushes. These produce a good crop over the summer and well into Autumn (we both have been picking them on and off since July). Fresh blueberries straight from the bush are a joy, packed with flavour and vroom. Blackberries grow in our garden too. Chubby fruit that make the Michelin man look slim. And of course all this fruit is organic.
We do have a recipe for blackberry and apple jam on the site. The jam is sieved to get rid of the pips but this time I wanted to make a jam with pieces of fruit and pips – just to see what it would be like. I also fancied the idea of a blackberry and blueberry mix. This recipe turned out well, the pips were fine and the pieces of fruit very Moreish. In fact we polished off half a 1lb jar at one sitting – so this recipe comes with a health warning.
Blueberry and blackberry jam
Ingredients:
450g of blueberries
300g of blackberries
500g of white granulated sugar
The juice from 2 small lemons
Method:
Wash the fruit.
Layer the fruit with the sugar in a large bowl and leave overnight in the fridge.
In the morning put a saucer in the freezer for testing for set and pour the fruit and the sugar into a large heavy bottomed saucepan or Maslin pan
Over a low heat stir the jam until you are certain that all the sugar has dissolved.
Then turn up the temperature – on a scale of 1-9 I used 8. When the jam is bubbling stir frequently and test for set after 15 minutes.
If it does not make a crinkle mark when a finger is pushed through it, test for set every 4 minutes (my jam set in 20 mins).
When the jam has set pour into warm sterilised jars using a ladel and a preserving funnel
This recipe made 2 x 1lb jars and one small jar. The jam should keep for a year – somehow I think that it will be guzzled within a few weeks.
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I have made 10lbs of raspberry and red currant jam this past week. This was with the fruit left in freezer from last year, needed to make room for the red currants I needed to pick this week. Approx 12 lb, have frozen most just making some jelly as we have run out. Our crop of Raspberries ( Autumn Bliss ) just about ready, a little early for me as I still need to pick all the Blackcurrants and Whiteberries ,!!!!’ Get a little overwhelmed at this time of the year as the gluts of vegetables and fruit my husband grows mean many hours of picking , packing and freezing at this time of year. Yes I know this sounds ungrateful but does anyone else feel the same???? It all started as a hobby and is now is his obsession which I have been caught up in as I hate to waste food.
gotta say, if I was lucky enough to go into the garden and pick a bowl of raspberries, I would just, well, eat them. With cream 🙂 They’d never get near the vodka!
We can’t get them here 🙁 Or only at 5 euros for 10 (berries, that is!)
Hi,
I have tagged you to take part in my fun ‘getting-to-know-you’ question game, as I was tagged by Alison of the Priarie Story blog. If you would like to take part and carry it on, please see the link below:
http://alwaystri-ingmybest.blogspot.com/2010/10/tag-im-it-too.html
All the best,
Kooky Girl.
Ah, blueberries are close to my heart! My Grandfather is responsible for the plants first coming into the UK and my brother now runs the family blueberry plantations in Dorset! http://dorset-blueberry.com/aboutus.html Herbert is my favourite variety, firm, full flavoured, good-sized fruit. My brother has just taken over the Trehane nursery which sells camellias but also blueberry plants – it’s a good place to start if anybody is considering buying the plants. Oh, and my mother, Jennifer Trehane, is the author of ‘Blueberries, Cranberries and other vacciniums’ and also ‘Blueberries, cranberries and lingonberries for everyone’ which she has just self-published. Here endeth the family promotion!!!!
Blackberry and blueberry sounds a lovely combination. Earlier this year I made raspberry (summer fruiting variety obviously) and blackcurrant jam – delicious! The recipe can be found on my blog – http://hollygrovekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/07/more-raspberry-and-blackcurrant-fare.html
yes the blackberries are still out here in ireland i picked6 lb last week and its been great year for them i would love to have a go at growing blueberries
This was my first year growing blueberries and they did really well! But next year we’ll have to get a cage or something as the nettingw as fairly disasterous.
Are there blackberries still out?
This sounds (and looks!) gorgeous. I leave the seeds in my jam too and I don’t mind them. I picked and froze my tayberries religiously this summer. I found that for the most part I wasn’t going to use them straight away and didn’t want to waste them. I did the same with wild blackberries. Now they are all bagged up in my freezer and ready to use. This way, at least, I know they will keep me in crumbles all winter…yum!
My favorite jam cooking recipe is plum jam on salmon. Just spread it on a fillet and bake in the oven. The first time I was served salmon this way I was a wee bit uncertain but it was so good it’s become my favorite.
Fiona, that jam sounds delicious, I bet it would be super in a Vic sponge. I am tempted to grow blueberries myself now. I even have a half barrel ready and waiting… what varieties do you have, do you remember? Dobies/Suttons have an offer on at the moment I think.
By the way, our Autumn Bliss rasps were beautiful a couple of weeks ago but honestly, now, the fruit have become watery and taste slightly nasty. So don’t beat yourself up! The birds are welcome to them!