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Homemade blackberry jam

As a a kid I was always over the moon when it was the time to pick blackberries! I remember going with mom, my brother and one of our neighbours and her kids and we (the smallest kids) would crawl into the best blackberries bushes to get the most juicy fruits of them all! After picking buckets full of blackberries, mom usually made jam out of what was left after the kids’ eating frenzy. ;)

blackberries

A few weeks ago I noticed quite a few blackberry bushes on my way to university and made a mental note that I would have to keep an eye on them. Last week I finally remembered to bring a small container and I was just in time! Most of the berries had already been picked (or eaten by animals), but I still managed to score 200g! (About half a pound or 7 ounces I think)

Mom made the jam. Not me, ever. I was too little to really remember the process but now very eager to find out myself. And guess what? It is soooo easy! All you need is some gelling sugar (which is sugar which contains pectin as a gelling agent) and that’s basically it. Of course, you can find more fancy recipes but the basis is 1 to 1 berries to sugar (so for the 200g of blackberries, I needed 200g of gelling sugar). 

So how do you do it? You put a little bit of water (just a little layer) in a pan and you add the blackberries and bring them to a slow boil. Let the berries and water boil for about 15 to 20 minutes while you stir every now and then. Then add the gelling sugar and stir until it dissolves. Boil it for another 5 minutes and then put the jam in your container with lid. Close the container and put it upside down so any remaining air has to pass the hot jam and any possible remaining bacteria are killed. Leave the blackberry jam to cool down. It will thicken during cooling down. My blackberry jam is delicious! It keeps up to a year when you keep it closed.

blackberry jam

gelling sugar blackberry jam

homemade blackberry jam

Have you ever made jam from fruits you picked? Did you know it was this easy? Leave a comment to tell me your experiences! And if you’ve never tried this before, just give it a go!

homemade blackberry jam

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