Friday, August 20, 2010

Blackberry Jam

Where I was grew up our property was surrounded by blackberry brambles.  They grew everywhere...with vigor.  I loved eating them - they are one of my favourite berries.  I've never found them growing wild near here so I had them planted (the thornless variety) in my old gardens.
I also like to pick them when I go to visit my folks and use those wild ones to make into jam.  The boys and I just spent some time with visiting parents (at one of my favourite lakes) and I spent some time one morning in the brambles picking berries. 
I kept an ear out for the young black bear that has been nosing around my parents' place - he surprised us (and us him) the day we arrived by coming around the garden right towards where we were sitting.  Our dog wasn't too pleased about this stranger and promptly chased him away.

Then I set to making some jam out of the two buckets of berries. 
I love to use Pomona's Pectin for jam making, it is very simple to use and you can use any amount of sweetener (or none at all).
Now we've got our supply of blackberry jam tucked away in the coldroom and there was enough to leave some with my parents too.
Delicious on oatcakes or scones.
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10 comments:

  1. debAugust 20, 2010 at 1:47 PM

    Oooh, that looks soooo good! I would love to reach out and dip my finger in that jar. :)

    Funny that you mentioned your scone recipe... I was just talking your pumpkin scones and your tomato pie recipe last night! Both are going to be made sometime soon.

    Oh and yes, you are right on the cucumbers! I had a few extras and thought I'd add them to the fresh salsa and we loved it.

    enjoy your weekend!

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  2. affectioknitAugust 20, 2010 at 1:58 PM

    Mmmmm! Blackberry Jam...

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  3. KellyAugust 20, 2010 at 3:18 PM

    Oh..wonderful..another tasty treat! We are keeping an eye on our blackberries too. Even our dog likes to eat them. One of the best highlights of late summer. Do bears like to eat blackberries? Maybe a silly question?!! My boys would love to know.

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  4. Julie @ Get Healthy CheapAugust 21, 2010 at 4:54 PM

    Hi! I was looking all over for a fruit and nut bar recipe and found yours from a couple of years ago. I just made a tweaked version of them and posted it here:

    http://www.gethealthycheap.com/2010/08/fruity-nutty-yummo-bars.html

    I hope you like my version. :)

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  5. AMOffenwangerAugust 22, 2010 at 11:03 AM

    I love blackberries- they're probably my favourite berry next to strawberries. But that might be because, like you said, they're so hard to get here!

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  6. Amanda MedlinAugust 22, 2010 at 8:29 PM

    That looks so yummy! We just discovered a pear tree in our front yard...(we've only lived here 8 months.) I can't wait to make pear preserves! It will be my first time canning.

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  7. TessAugust 23, 2010 at 6:40 AM

    Thank you for mentioning Pomonas Pectin! I have been searching for something like this in attempts to make lower sugar recipes so I am thrilled to discover it. Look out raspberries!

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  8. 6512 and growingAugust 23, 2010 at 2:24 PM

    Lovely foraging!

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  9. HeatherAugust 23, 2010 at 5:14 PM

    Hi Deb, I hope enjoy the tomato pie, it really is one of my all-time favourite recipes.

    Hi Kelly, yes the bears do seem to like blackberries. They didn't seem to be eating them too much yet where I was picking but they sure had been into the Saskatoon bushes - they're really hard on the branches of those. They also like to climb my parents' cherry tree and gorge on cherries (and then poop out great piles of cherry pits - it is pretty easy to tell what bears have been eating, actually, when we were in Montana we hiked by a big purple (huckleberry) bear poop).

    Naturally Chic Mama - your first time canning!! Exciting. I hope you love it, so fun to be eating summery goodness in the wintertime. So worth the effort.

    Hi Tess - I LOVE Pomona's. The instructions tell you how to make jam with sugar, honey or even fruit juice as sweetener and you can use a very little amount. Everything I've tried with it has jelled well. One thing - don't let the price of it throw you off. It seems more expensive than regular pectin at first glance but you can use one box to make many batches of jam or jelly. Regular pectin boxes are usually good for one batch so I actually find Pomona's to be much more economical too.

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  10. KatherineAugust 23, 2010 at 9:13 PM

    I love blackberries from my first taste as a new mom. They didn't grow where I grew up. I did get to eat my weight in Saskatoonsr as a kid and remember sharing the picking with bears. We kept to our respective sides of the berry bushes. LOL

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