How to Make Blackberry Jelly, and why fruit jellies work.

Want to know how to make Blackberry Jelly? It’s not that difficult, and so satisfying to make the best of the (free) autumn harvest. If your north of the border you will know this as Bramble Jelly. Whatever you call them it’s great fun collecting the fruit on a warm sunny afternoon.

When your collecting, expect a few war wounds from the spiky stems and keep away from the main roads. Stick to country lanes where the traffic is light. The berries won’t be covered in pollution from traffic and you’re less likely to be flattened by a passing lorry. Do be sure what you are gathering is edible. There are plenty of good books and websites to help you. The golden rule is if you’re not sure, don’t use it.

Gather with care and don’t strip a bush of fruit, take a few here and there and move on to the next bush. There will be plenty for all and remember that wildlife needs the autumn harvest more than you do.

Blackberry Jelly.

You will need.

Wide thick based pan.

Colander or sieve.

Heatproof spatula.

Saucer and / or probe thermometer.

Jam funnel.

Jelly bag or sheet of muslin cloth.

Measuring jug.

Sterilised jam jars and lids. Check out the food files page on how to do this.

Waxed paper jam covers.

Makes Roughly 600ml.

Stage 1.

750g                Blackberries

1                      Bramley cooking apple (roughly 200g)

225ml              water

1                      lemon

Stage 2.

Granulated or preserving sugar.

Why Jelly and not Jam?

Why go to all the trouble of straining all that fruit and then only using the juices. Why not just make jam? Well, you can, the classic recipe is equal weights of fruit and sugar cooked together with some water and lemon juice. Cook the fruit to 105˚c and transfer to jars just as we will do with the fruit juices.

So, what’s the problem? It’s those damn seeds. There are so many small hard seeds in the fruit that the jam almost becomes crunchy. You will be flossing the seeds out of your teeth for ages. And the texture of the seeds overtakes the flavour of the fruit.

To press or not to press.

Those of you that follow my ramblings will know I like to do things a little differently if I think it’s an improvement on the classic method or recipe. No change here. Recipes for fruit jellies will tell you to stew the fruit. Then hang the stewed fruits in a jelly bag or muslin overnight to let the juices drip though. Never press the fruit!

Well, I do. The above is fine is you want a nice clear jelly, and you have a fridge large enough to support a jelly bag and bowl. I don’t and I like to get the maximum flavour and yield from my efforts. The choice is up to you.

It’s all about the pectin.

Pectin is the key to a jam or jelly setting. Once the fruit has released its pectin and we have a specific density of sugar the two will react together and begin to gel. Adding a little acid (lemon juice) helps the reaction and gives the flavour a boost.

So where do we get pectin?

Well, some fruits are naturally high in pectin. These include Blackberries, Redcurrants, Quince, Tart Apples, Rowanberries, Lemons, Limes, and Cranberries.

Low pectin fruits include. Raspberries, Strawberries, Pears, Blueberries, Peaches, Apricots and Pineapple.

So how do we make a jam or jelly with a fruit that is low in pectin like strawberries? We simply add pectin. This can be done in different ways.

The simplest is to method is just to use jam sugar.

You can make a stock with a high pectin fruit like Redcurrants and add that to your fruit instead of water.

Or you buy Pectin Powder or liquid and add it in to the pan. Liquid can be added with the fruit to the pan. Powder should be mixed in with the sugar before its added to the fruit.

Know your sugar?

You will come across recipes that ask for granulated, jam, or preserving sugar, but what’s the difference?

Granulated Sugar is the basic for of refined sugar and a good economic choice for jams and jellies.

Castor Sugar is simply more finely ground sugar producing finer crystals. Normally used for pastry and deserts. Not recommended for jams and jellies as it contains an anti-caking agent to avoid lumps forming. This produced more foam and waste when cooked with fruits.

Preserving Sugar is a pure sugar with larger crystals. This dissolves a little slower than granulated sugar, reducing the chance of burning. The sugar also produced less foam while still allowing the impurities to rise to the top.

Jam Sugar is preserving sugar with added pectin. This is the easiest way of working with low pectin fruits. Don’t use it with high pectin fruits though, or you will end up with a fruit brick.

Know we know, so, let’s get on with it.

Have a probe thermometer on hand or place a couple of saucers in the freezer to get really cold. I do both.

Give the Blackberries a wash and drain well in a colander. Wash the apple and cut into rough dice about 1.5 cm across. Keep the skin on and include the pips. Tip the apple into the pan and add the fruit on top.

I like to add a little of the zest of the lemon as well as the juice to boost the citrus notes. Using a peeler slice off four strips of zest from the lemon then remove the juice.

Add the juice, zest and any pips liberated to the pan. Bring the pan to a simmer over a medium heat stirring from time to time. Pop on the lid and cook gently for twenty minutes.

I like to press the fruit lightly during cooking. A potato masher is ideal, just press lightly here and there, don’t overdo it and puree the fruit.

Draining the juices.

When the fruit is cooked set up your jelly bag or muslin over a suitable container to catch the juices. Ladle in some of the mixture and leave to drain. After about 10 minutes or so I give the mix a stir with a spoon then Lightly squeeze the bag to extract as much juice as possible.

When you are sure you have as much juices as possible empty the bag and repeat the process until all the mix is filtered.

Wash the pan and return the filtered juice to the pan measuring the volume as you do so.

For each 100ml of juices you will need 75g of sugar. I had 600ml of juice so used 450g of sugar.

The second cooking.

Bring the juice to the simmer then add the sugar. Stir to dissolve the sugar then turn up the heat to a fast simmer / gentle boil. Have your sterilised jars ready and turn on the oven to 100c.

As the juices simmer, a scum will be produced on the surface of the jelly. Use a small ladle or kitchen spoon to lift off the scum and discard. You may need to repeat this as the jelly cooks and reduced down

As the jelly cooks, water will evaporate, the flavour will be concentrated, and the sugar content will increase. When we reach the optimum sugar density, gelling will begin.

How do we know when we have reached setting point?

One way is to pour a little of the jelly onto a cold plate and as the jelly cools push a finger through it to see if it ripples up. If the jelly flows back together it’s not ready. If it ripples up to form a mound it’s ready to go into jars and be sealed.

This can mean quite a bit of messing about. Experienced jam makers can tell by the size of bubbles and how they move in the pan during cooking. Most of us however don’t make jams or jellies enough to be that familiar with the process.

Use a thermometer to insure setting.

I think the best and easiest method is to use a probe thermometer. As the contents of the pan become denser the boiling temperature increases. This means by knowing the boiling temperature of the liquid we know the density. Once the juices reach 105˚c your jam or jelly is ready.

You should get to 102˚c quite quickly but it can take an age to get up to 105˚c. Be patient, stopping the cooking too early means it won’t set correctly. As you get close to been ready pop your jars in the oven to warm up.

When ready, lift off any final scum that has formed and fill the warmed jars. Place a paper disc on the surface of the jelly and seal with the lid.

Let the jars cool then store in a cool dark place. Unopened it should last long enough to see you through to the next berry season.

Nothing beats homemade preserves. A couple of hours work will fill your cupboard with flavour it’s almost impossible to buy!

Enjoy Life!

John.

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©John Webber. 2023