Bramble Jelly Jam

Following our Family Foraging Foray, Bramble Jelly Jam was definitely on the agenda.

The last time we foraged I had a go at making Blackberry Jam, but wasn't that impressed with it.  It was just too 'pippy'. It was definitely time to up the ante and have a go at making a jelly instead, which I knew would be a bit more effort, but hoped it would be worth it.

There are loads of different recipes for Bramble Jelly on the Internet, with lots of conflicting information, especially when it comes to the pectin content of blackberries.  This is really important as not enough pectin and your jelly won't set.  Too much and it will be too firm.

There were so many recipes and so much differing information that I got a bit overwhelmed with choosing which one to go with.




In the end, I reverted to a book on preserving that a good friend had given Martin for Christmas a number of years ago and this is what we did.

Makes sufficient jelly to fill 7 small jars
There are 3 distinct stages to making this jelly
Stage 1 - Preparing the juice for the jelly - takes about 1 and 1/2 hours
Stage 2 - Straining the juice - 3-4 hours
Stage 3 - Making the jelly and bottling - 1 hour

Ingredients
1.35kg/3lb blackberries, washed
Juice & pips of 2 large lemons
Sufficient water to cover the fruit when in the pan
Approx 1kg preserving sugar

• Stage 1 - Put the fruit, lemon juice & pips in a large pan. Pour over just enough water to cover, we added about 1.2 litres. Cover the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 1 hour.
• Stage 2 - Mash the fruit and leave to cool slightly.  Pour into a scalded jelly bag suspended over a non-metallic bowl and leave to drain.  You can leave to drain overnight, but we found ours had fully drained within 3-4 hours.  Do not squeeze the bag, to speed up the process, as this will make your jelly cloudy.
• Stage 3 - Place a small plate in the freezer to help with testing when your jelly has reached setting point.
• Measure the strained juice into a preserving pan.  It is really important that you use a large enough pan, as when boiling, the liquid will rise rapidly in the pan.  If your pan is too small your liquid will either boil over, or will not reach the temperature required to set.  Add 450g/1lb preserving sugar for every 600ml/1 pint of strained fruit juice. We had 1.2 litres of juice, so added 900g of sugar.
• Heat the mixture, stirring, over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.  Increase the heat and boil rapidly without stirring for 10-15 minutes, or until the jelly reaches setting point (105C).  You will need to watch the mixture constantly as when boiling there is the danger it may overflow, though if you turn it down the temperature will not reach setting point.  We boiled our jelly for about 30 minutes before it reached this point.
• You can test whether your jelly has reached setting point by placing a drop onto the plate that you put into the freezer earlier.  If at setting point the mixture will ripple when pushed with your finger.
• Once your jelly has reached setting point then remove the pan from the heat and skim off any scum, using a slotted spoon.  Ladle into warmed sterilised jars and seal.  Leave to cool, then label and store.

Definitely not as easy as making Strawberry Jam, but well worth the effort.  We have a really tasty silky Blackberry Jelly that we will be enjoying well into the Winter months.

Family Foraging Foray!

When we were kids, late summer always meant days out blackberrying. I have to be honest here, I used to hate it. Driving round the countryside trying to find blackberries worth picking, then standing on the side of the road trying to reach them, getting scratched to hell, while traffic raced past, it certainly wasn't my idea of fun. I would much rather have had a trip to the park, or just stopped at home!

Funny how your thoughts change as you get older. The idea now of going out foraging for something that just grows for free in the countryside that can be turned into all sorts of nice stuff back home is a really attractive prospect. 

We'd been waiting for a nice enough day to go blackberrying for a couple of weeks. We'd been and recce'd our favourite spot and knew the blackberries were just ready and waiting. 

We had big plans this year. Martin and dad were going to be making home made wine and mum and I had bramble jelly on the agenda. It would be the first time that Martin had made wine from scratch, the first time mum had ever made jam and the first time I'd tried making bramble jelly. 

Luckily, last Saturday morning dawned nice and bright and we met at the appointed spot. We looked like right scruff bags, all in our oldest tattiest gear as we knew there was potential for getting dirty and scratched.

As soon as we arrived we could tell that other foragers had been there before us and had picked the best of the crop. However, there were still loads to be had, especially for the intrepid forager, prepared to bash a way in and reach up high.  That's just what the walking poles and crook handled umbrellas were made for. 

As we still have a freezer full of blackberries from last years forage, we only wanted to pick exactly what we needed this year. We didn't want to end up having to store any more in the freezer.  We'd worked out we needed to pick 10lbs of blackberries to make Martin's wine and my bramble jelly and mum and dad would need the same.  

We were well prepared with lots of plastic containers and we even had the kitchen scales in the boot of the car, so we could make sure we stopped picking when we had got what we needed.

Two hours later we had the requisite 20lb of blackberries between us and were covered in scratches and stings.  It's funny how the biggest and best blackberries seem to be surrounded by stingers.  Dad had one hell of a grazed knee from exiting a load of brambles and getting his foot caught in one across the floor. He didn't half take a tumble, but it did give us chance to use the first aid kit out of the back of the car. 

Hands and arms rubbed down with dock leaves and cleaned up with hand wash and the trusty 'blue roll' which always comes in handy, we decided to call it a day. 

Not before sneaking in a crafty cache on the way home though. 

We wanted to find a cache called 'Miner's Lamp'.  It is located at a local memorial to all of the men, women and children who worked at Dexter Colliery, which shut in 1965 and Kingsbury Colliery, which followed in 1968. The wall of the memorial is built of bricks, each of which has been bought by the families of miners who worked at nearby Dexter and Kingsbury Collieries. The memorial also has a huge miner’s lamp, which is permanently lit, as an everlasting flame to commemorate those who have died and those who remember working down the mines.

This was a cache that Martin and I had looked for before with no luck. With more pairs of eyes we hoped we'd have more joy.  

We did. We found it pretty much straight away and were soon off home for a massive blackberry washing and jam and wine making session, which pretty much took up the rest of the day.