I was just about to get stuck in when I realized I had no polenta for the pastry. Eek - Sunday evening, not a shop open, so I decided to make a batch of coulis instead. And then a wild impulse overtook me. Jam, must make jam. Or rather jelly, because those blackberries were a bit pippy.
Never mind that I'd never made jam before and I had no preserving sugar. Pectin, schmectin I said to myself - read 3 recipes and came up with my own. A pint of strained juice from the fruit, juice of half a lemon and a pound of sugar. Bubble, bubble, 106 degrees and Bob's your uncle.
It worked! And it set. And it tastes good. And I feel smugly domestic-goddess-like every time I glance at the jar.
Did I mention that my Mum's favourite blackberrying patch is in the local cemetery? She maintains the fruit from there is free of dog pee and traffic pollution. Who am I to argue.
19 comments:
That looks delicious. I made blackberry jam once and left it to blowdry my daughter's hair and it cooked until it was solid and set in the pan - had to throw the whole thing away (pan as well). Glad you had more success!
Kim
The jam looks good! I made some last year and boiled it for too long - it was pretty solid!! Was off picking raspberries at the weekend - delicious!
Aw, yum, homemade jam - can't beat it!
Do make the galette though - it is really yummy (especially with custard, being the greedy guzzler I am).
I agree - nothing makes me feel more Domestic Goddess than jam production. Yours looks sooooo good. We don't get blackberries here :(
I did this last year - except I couldn't be bothered to get the seeds out, so everyone who got a jar of my 'bramble' jam for a gift got half a jar of delicious jam and half a jar of seeds!
Those jars looked so good though...
I also came home with the boys after picking the blackberries to see I'd left the front door wide open. In short I will never live down my blackberry jam experiment!
YUM!! Oh you are so a domestic goddess you!
Looks so yummy! The Amish (Mennonite?) ladies around here thicken some jellies with zucchini, but I don't know how they do it. And it doesn't affect the taste at all.
I to have heard you get excellent blackberries in graveyards!!
Your jam/jelly looks delicous.
Alison x
that looks lovely. Our blackberries are on bushes alongside a frantically busy road but picking a couple for the FB got him to eat a fruit that he wouldn't touch before
You are a much braver woman than me! Jam? Jam sandwich I can manage..the actual jam...DH is laughing so hard he might break a rib!
Yummy, and how very clever!
I do wish I could have a dollop for my toast tomorrow morning. Looks delish. I think I enjoy reading Nigella's recipes more than cooking them.
YUM!
Congrats on the jam - does that mean that you now qualify for the WI ?
Not to mention that there's not a lot of competition for picking them from the neighbours!
Yummmmmm. I want some cemetary blackberry jam now!
Yay for you! I'm doing to make jam or preserves or can peaches or do something that makes me feel like I could live off the land and not starve!
Here in Washington, the blackberries are quite invasive, filling up empty lots and ditches. At our previous house, they spilled over our back fence from an electrical easement and were easy picking, as long as we kept them hacked back from encroaching our space! But they are very yummy invaders!
this takes me back to my childhood, of filling my belly with blackberries, but mum still having enough left over for making jam - yumo. now we are not allowed to pick the blackberries because the council spray them - they are treated like a weed here. such a shame.
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