Apple and Blackberry Jam
Thats all good news for me as I intend to make the best of this bounty - I have agreed to gather a load for my mum to put in her freezer. Every so often she does puddings or baking for my brother and his family or for myself; which is very welcome as I personally always enjoy something that has been cooked for me.
Since I found blackberries in the garden every two days or so I have been going into the garden and I am managing to pick this amount (about 1/2 lb - so I am not doing too bad espcially as they are freebies. I had just enough to make some blackberry and apple jam and this has been bubbling away in the jam pan It tastes scrummy and will be lovely with warmed croissants for breakfast on top of yogurt or in rice pudding as well as a lovely filling for a sponge cake or for a Mille Feuille Slice.
I was a bit worried that I didn't have enough blackberries so I checked with The Basic Basics Jams Preserves and Chutneys Handbook by Marguerite Patten and I only needed 1lb of apples and 1lb of blackberries and 2lb sugar with just enough water to cover the fruit.
Ingredients
1lb blackberries
1lb apples (recipe said cooking apples but I used some dessert apples that I have)
2lb sugar
water to cover fruit
Make sure fruit is sound and get rid of any bruised damaged or mouldy fruit this applies to both the blackberries and the apples. Slice the apples into small pieces then add to the blackberries in the pan. Cook until nice and soft the add the sugar. Carry on cooking until jam achieves a set.
Bottle into nice hot jars.
I now have four jars of purple bounty to add to "The Put Down 2010", the first of many I hope. I have lined up a few different recipes that I want to try in the coming weeks, some of them old friends some of them completely new to me, but one thing I have promised myself is that I am going to put a few bottles of compote up variations on the fruits yet to come combined with apples and pears giving more scope for different puddings and meals. And there are still the pickles, home made mincemeat, curds etc to come as well as the wine making, beer making ginger beer and cider.
Theres lots to do and so little time to do it.
Catch up soon
Pattypan
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Did you use the jam maker for your blackberry and apple jam??? if so how long did you cook the fruit for???? We have laods of blackberries coming in the field hedges....I will freeze some, but as our fruit garden is not up to speed yet I could make some B & A Jam to help see us through the winter.
ReplyDeleteHi Anne,
ReplyDeleteYes I did. The beauty of the jam pan is that you can set the timer and then add extra minutes to it if you so wish. Because blackberries are a soft fruit I concentrated on making sure that the apple was cooked to my satisfaction (I used dessert apples as that is what I had to hand rather than the stipulated cookers and the smaller the pieces of apple the quicker it cooks. I set the fruit to cook for 20 minutes - you may need a little more time until the apple is cooked. I only put the sugar in when I am happy the fruit is cooked and set for 10 minutes further, ( I only add the sugar when I am happy that the fruit is where I want it to be and I then start testing for a set) but adding extra 10 minute (or 5 minutes) increments until a set is achieved. I have noticed that the jam maker achiebes a set a lot quicker with the jam pan I think perhaps because it is on a constant temperature where on top of the cooker it fluctuates a bit. However I never put more than 1 kg of fruit in the pan at one time.
It has come up well and tastes absolutely delicious ideal for toast or on crumpets, croissants etc.
I also intend to bottle some blackberries as well once the wild larder really gets going - the new kilner jars come in two sizes and the smaller one of the two are ideal for just two people servings. It also helps free up freezer room for more important staple like meat, fish and veg.
I don't blame you making the best of what's to hand as good food keeps the family healthy,
Take care the pair of you
Tricia
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