LOVELY PREMISE ABOUT JAMS: You should know that I have been around jams for years and the first one I made was Currant Jelly (for the recipe click here). Sabine, my brother’s friend from Friuli, had given us a small jar several years ago – never forgotten – made with currants from their garden in the mountains. I won’t even tell you about the splendor of that delicious, transparent and wine-coloured jelly… and from there began a secret passion for packing up some summer fruit to give color to winter breakfasts (you don’t know what a thrill of satisfaction it is to open the cupboards of the kitchen and find them full of jars made with their own hands).
Different and – at times – ingenious approaches have come from Brussels sprouts (thanks Sigrid!) up to the Alsatian jam master Christine Ferber (it seems that even Brad Pitt cannot do without her delicious jars) and the latest The results were truly remarkable, so I will continue and continue and continue. Just remember one fundamental rule of Mrs. Ferber “ Jam is also a school of patience”.
Today I propose you Blackberry jam, blackberries to be picked by hand from very thorny brambles: pride is an integral part of the flavour, otherwise you will only half enjoy it when you spread it on bread…
Ingredients
- 1 kg of ripe blackberries
- 700 g of granulated sugar
- the juice of one lemon
- half a grain of long pepper from Cambodia (not mandatory!)
- 17 g of pectin 2:1 (n.b. pectin is a natural substance found in fruit in different quantities (quinces have the most of all) and is added to jams. You can find it in supermarkets and sweet shops, in different aspect ratios 2:1, 3:1, 4:1)
Select the blackberries, eliminating any that are a little too old or still reddish and remove any stems.
Wash them under fresh water, delicately without breaking them and drain them well.
In a ceramic bowl, mix the blackberries, sugar and lemon juice previously removed from the seeds. Mix with a wooden ladle until the sugar is well soaked in the juices and then pass everything through a food mill to remove the seeds. Add the long Cambodian pepper crushed with a pestle or finely chopped with a knife
Put it on the heat (possibly in a ceramic-coated pot) and bring it almost to the boil, it should “shiver” and then put it back in the bowl.
Cover with baking paper and place in the fridge to rest overnight.
The following day, filter the mixture through a sieve to eliminate any residual seeds, add the pectin, put it back on the heat and bring everything to the boil. Boil for 3 to 7 minutes, checking the consistency (put a drop on a saucer, let it cool and tilt the plate to see if it is thick enough for your tastes).
Pour into previously sterilized jars, seal, turn upside down and leave to cool. It can be kept for a whole year.
STERILIZATION OF JARS – to begin before making the jam, they must be ready at the right time.
Take some jars with caps (either the Bormioli ones or those recovered from home jars), remove the labels and wash them well (better if in the dishwasher).
Place them in a large pot, cover them with water and boil the jars and caps for 5-10 minutes, while heating the oven to 190°C. Remove the jars from the water and place them upside down on a baking tray in the oven and leave them there for another ten minutes and there you have your sterilized jars.
Take them out of the oven and fill them with jam, clean the edge with a clean cloth, seal immediately, turn upside down and let cool to create a vacuum.
