How To Make Apple and Blackberry Jam

Homemade Jam Recipes

Ingredients: Apple and Blackberry Jam Recipe

2 lb / 1,000 grams of cooking apples (such as Bramleys)
2 lb / 1,000 grams of blackberries
4 1/2 lb / 2,000 grams of white sugar (granulated is always best)
17 fl oz / 500 ml of tap water
1 lemon
55 oz / 15 g of butter

Method - What To Do

This is a very seasonal recipe and can be quite inexpensive if you are prepared to forage for tasty wild blackberries in bramble-covered hedgerows. If not, then a container or two of frozen supermarket blackberries will more than suffice. Of note, wild fruit often has a better flavour than some commercial varieties of bramble, such as thornless plants, which can appear a little bland, although cultivated fruit is often considerably larger and equally juicy when fully ripe.

Wash and peel all of the apples, before removing their cores. If you prefer a slightly sweeter taste, you may like to substitute some of the sharp cooking apples for sweeter, dessert varieties, such as Cox's. Slice or roughly chop all of the apples and add into a large saucepan, combining the juice of one lemon. This will help to prevent any discolouring of the fruit. Add the water and bring the pan to a gentle simmer for five minutes, so that the pieces of apple begin to soften.

After first taking the pan off the heat, tip in all of the sugar and stir slowly until it has fully dissolved. Next, tip in the blackberries and return the jam mixture to the heat. Stir gently, so as not to break up the fruit too much, and bring the jam to a strong rolling boil for five minutes, being careful that it doesn't burn at all. Reduce the heat and simmer for a further ten minutes or until the mixture takes on a syrup-like appearance and gloss.

Test your apple and blackberry jam to see if you think it will have a good set. This is most easily done by dropping some of the jam onto the centre of a chilled plate, leaving for a minute, and then tipping the plate to see if the mixture runs or have started to solidify. When you touch this jam sample, it should feel like jelly and have started to form a light skin. If it seems to be more liquid than jelly, continue to simmer and re-test as many times as you feel necessary. You should carry on cooking the jam until you are confident that it is going to set. Apples contain high quantities of natural pectin, and so this process shouldn't take long.

Remove the apple and blackberry mix from the cooker heat and mix in the butter. This will assist with the dispersal of any floating foam / scum. After cooling for 15 minutes, the jam can be funnelled or ladled into your sterilised jars in the usual manner.

Apple and Blackberry Jam Recipe - More Jam Recipes.