Apple and Blackberry jam.

It is that time of year again when I am busy preserving foraged food and things from the garden.  When ever I cook black berries (brambles) I usually mix them with foraged apples to stretch the berries out .  When making jam this helps as blackberries are low in pectin but the apples make up for that by having a high pectin level, and so the jam sets easily.

We pick lots of blackberries at this time of year and usually I freeze them all but I have little freezer room this year as the vegetable harvests have been abundant, and so I thought that I would make some jam for Christmas hampers and for us.  This makes just over 2kg of jam.  Before I make jam I always put a saucer into the freezer to use later to see if the jam has reached setting point.  This is the UK way of making jam as I know the USA has other health regulations.  This jam has kept for 2 years for me before now, without getting any mould.

Ingredients

675g of peeled and cored cooking apples

150ml water

1kg black berries

1.4kg granulated sugar (I put less sugar in if I am using foraged eating apples)

Method

1. Cut the apples into small cubes and place in a heavy based pan with the water.
2. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes
3. Sterilise the jars whilst the apples are cooking. You can do this in the oven or the microwave.
4. Add the blackberries and simmer gently for a further 10 minutes until you have a soft puree.
5. Stir in the sugar.  Once it has completely dissolved bring the pan back to the boil.
6. Let it rolling boil for about 20 minutes or until it has reached setting point (between 104C and 105.5C).  I test it my putting some onto the saucer that has been in the freezer and if I put my finger through it and it wrinkles and doesn’t fill in where my finger has been I know it is ready)
7. Take the pan off the heat and pour the jam into the warm sterilised jars. Seal and label.