I finished up canning my first ever Blackberry Jam. I tried to make it once before but ended up with blackberry globs. This time I used and followed a solid recipe.
Having a good recipe (and following it) is key to making the jam. It seems that if you don’t have exactly the right elements in exactly the right quantities and blended in sequence and cooked for the appropriate amount of time then it won’t ‘set’ the way it needs to. If it sets wrong you end up with a watery mix that separates in the jar.
I started with 9 cups of berries that I pulled a few weeks back, smashing them with a potato masher and dumped into a large pot. I added 1 and 1/3 package of pectin mixed into 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of bottled lemon juice, a teaspoon of butter. I brought this to a full boil and then added 6 and 1/2 cups of sugar and stirred constantly until it came to a full boil once again.
I was able to jar 8 1/2 half pint jars. 8 went into the canner for a hot water bath that lasted 10 minutes. The half jar went into the fridge.
Now most recipes don’t have either the lemon juice or the butter in them, but I think both are critical. The lemon increases the acidity of the berries enough to ensure that the berries, pectin and sugar mix together and set the way it’s supposed to. The teaspoon of butter keeps the blackberry ‘mash’ from foaming once it comes to a full boil.
A short while ago I tasted from the jar that went into the fridge; it tastes nothing, nothing like store bought blackberry jam. The best way I can describe it is to say that it tastes like real fruit….like real food!
Gotta run and clean up the kitchen before wifey finds the mess I’ve made.
