We’ve been making the most of the fruits that are around at the moment and 2017 certainly seems to be a good year. So half a dozen jars of apple and blackberry jam in the cupboard!
Ingredients
- 600g of blackberries, washed and drained
- 500g of crab apples
- 1.1kg of granulated sugar
- 300ml of water
- 10g of butter
How to make the apple and blackberry jam
- Put the water and crab apples into a large pan and simmer gently for 5 minutes
- Add the blackberries, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the fruit is soft
- Take the saucepan off the heat and rub the fruit through a sieve
- Return the mixture to the pan and stir in the sugar
- Heat gently, continuing to stir, until all of the sugar has dissolved
- Boil rapidly for 10 minutes
- Take the saucepan off the heat and test the mixture (drop a small dollop onto a cold saucer; if it crinkles then the mixture is ready)
- If the mixture is ready, ladle it into jars, otherwise boil for another couple of minutes
- Let the mixture cool slightly and pour into sterilised jars*.
*To sterilise the jars, wash them in cold water and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160ºC, and turn the oven on. Once it gets up to temperature, the jars are ready. Remember to use a tea towel oven gloves when you handle the jars.
We make this and many other delicious preserves on our 1 day foraging course.
You can see loads of photos from the course, as well as from all of our courses, on our Facebook page.
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Thank you for doing the work you do and sharing knowledge about craft courses, foraging and recipes. My comment is offered as a suggestion and related to jam making in general. I wonder, about this apple & blackberry jam, if more nutrition might be saved when once the apple slices are almost done and mashed in the pan somewhat (I myself use cooking apples) the washed blackberries are added, simmering the mixture for another 5 minutes or so. That leaves the vitamins in good condition to serve ours. As I prefer to use as little sugar as possible, I’m choosing an amount of sugar around 300-400 gram and bind the mixture with 2 tablespoons, flat surface amount of arrowroot (healthfood shop), first solved in a bit of lukewarm water and added to the mixture, stirred thoroughly and cooking for another 2 minutes or so. The arrowroot creates a transparent substance, without adding taste and the form of the blackberry is visible in the apple mash, though soft enough to be spread comfortably on a sandwich or cracker. Due to a lesser presence of sugar in the jam, the jam should be kept in the fridge after opening of the jar.