Blackberry Jelly
I recently purchased some beautiful blackberries. I was busy, so a lot of them ended up in the freezer to use and enjoy later.
I decided to use some of them to make blackberry jelly. I had recently made jam and pie filling. This time I wanted a seedless end product.
It came out perfect. Sweet and tart, and full of the flavor of summer. Jelly was a little more work than jam, but worth every bit of effort.
I first cooked the berries to extract the juice, then used that juice to make the jelly. While it was a hot day to be making jelly- the aroma in the house made it all worth it.
Blackberry Jelly
3 quarts blackberries*
1/2 c. water
1 box powdered pectin
5 c. sugar
Place the berries in a pot and use a potato masher to crush the berries. Add the water and simmer until the berries are soft. Strain out the solids and then pour the juice through several layers of cheesecloth to clarify. You should end up with about 4-5 cups of juice. Place juice in a pot and add the pectin. Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly. Add the sugar and return mixture to the boil, again stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam. Ladle mixture into clean, hot jelly jars and fill to 1/4 inch from the top. Seal and repeat with remaining jelly. Place in a boiling water bath and process 10 minutes. Makes 6-7 half pints.
* Best if some of the berries are a little under ripe. Under ripe fruit is higher in natural pectin.
Homemade Blackberry Jelly
Blackberry Jelly
I was recently gifted some beautiful blackberries. I was busy, so a lot of them ended up in the freezer to use and enjoy later.
I decided to use some of them to make blackberry jelly. These were smallish berries, and I knew they had a lot of seeds in them. I could make seedless jam, but if I were going to the bother of getting out the seeds, I figured I could also make jelly.
It came out perfect. Sweet and tart, and full of the flavor of summer. Jelly was a little more work than jam, but worth every bit of effort.
I first cooked the berries to extract the juice, then used that juice to make the jelly. While it was a hot day to be making jelly- the aroma in the house made it all worth it.
I also saved the seeds and solids. I placed them in a jar and covered them with vodka. I can strain it in a few weeks, sweeten it a little, and I’ll have some blackberry liqueur as a bonus.
Blackberry Jelly
3 quarts blackberries*
1/2 c. water
1 box powdered pectin
5 c. sugar
Place the berries in a pot and use a potato masher to crush the berries. Add the water and simmer until the berries are soft. Strain out the solids and then pour the juice through several layers of cheesecloth to clarify. You should end up with about 4-5 cups of juice. Place juice in a pot and add the pectin. Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly. Add the sugar and return mixture to the boil, again stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam. Ladle mixture into clean, hot jelly jars and fill to 1/4 inch from the top. Seal and repeat with remaining jelly. Place in a boiling water bath and process 10 minutes. Makes 6-7 half pints.
* Best if some of the berries are a little under ripe. Under ripe fruit is higher in natural pectin.
Beautiful Blackberries
Blackberries!!
I was lucky to get almost 4 pounds of blackberries today. Now I have to decide what to do with them. Baking? Jam? Sorbet? What would you do with them?
Here are some things I have done with blackberries before.
Blackberry Jelly
3 quarts blackberries*
1/2 c. water
1 box powdered pectin
5 c. sugar
Place the berries in a pot and use a potato masher to crush the berries. Add the water and simmer until the berries are soft. Strain out the solids and then pour the juice through several layers of cheesecloth to clarify. You should end up with about 4-5 cups of juice. Place juice in a pot and add the pectin. Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly. Add the sugar and return mixture to the boil, again stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam. Ladle mixture into clean, hot jelly jars and fill to 1/4 inch from the top. Seal and repeat with remaining jelly. Place in a boiling water bath and process 10 minutes. Makes 6-7 half pints.
* Best if some of the berries are a little under ripe. Higher in natural pectin.
Note: I decided to take the solids and seeds and place them in a large jar and cover them with vodka so I can make liqueur later. We’ll see how that works out in a few weeks. I’ll sweeten that mixture later after filtering out the solids.
Blackberry Scones
2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 T. baking powder
¾ t. salt
6 T. chilled butter
2 c. blackberries -do not defrost if using frozen
1 t. orange zest
2 large eggs
1/3 c. heavy cream or half and half
Mix dry ingredients together in bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Toss in berries and zest. Beat together eggs and cream and stir into flour mixture. Mix very gently to avoid bruising berries. Use 1/2 cup ice cream scoop to scoop batter onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little extra sugar, if you like. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 22-24 minutes. Makes 10-12.
Blackberry Cinnamon Muffins
1 c. milk
1 egg
¼ c. oil
2 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1T. Baking powder
¾ t. salt
½ t. cinnamon
1 c. blackberries, I used fresh but frozen would work, too.
Topping:
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
4 T. butter, melted
Beat together milk, egg and oil. Combine dry ingredients and add to milk mixture, stirring to just moisten flour. Fold in blackberries. Fill 12 paper lined muffin cups to 3/4 full. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another bowl. When muffins are removed from the oven carefully dip the top of a muffin in the melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar. If muffins are too hot to hold wait a few minutes before dipping. Repeat with remaining muffins. Serve warm. Makes 12.
