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Some Easy Blackberry Recipes
Easy Blackberry RecipesPerhaps the easiest thing to do with all those luscious blackberries is to make jam, or coulis. But there are plenty of other options, too. Blackberries are wholesome and nutritous. They have good amounts of vitamin C and the seeds are rich in vitamin E. There are lots of easy ways to prepare them and they are easy to find throughout August and September. There are still some around in October, and even later some years, though the quality is not generally so good with later fruit. It's even quite a pleasant task collecting them, apart from the odd scratch, of course. Pick on a dry day after a dryish spell. Pick the bright shiny looking ones. If they are over-ripe they start to lose their shine. Don't pick near roads because of the pollutants which may affect the fruit. Roadside berries may be larger, however, because of the increased levels of CO2. It's certainly worth avoiding any field margins where crops may have been sprayed with toxic chemicals. Of course you can use fresh commercial or home grown fruit equally well. You can get blackberries earlier in the year from fruit farms. Easy Blackberry Recipes: first, jam. Jam is very easy to make and it can be used as an ingredient in its own right.
Here's an easy recipe for blackberry jam.First rinse the blackberries for a few moments under running water. After all, flies are quite fond of them, too! Remove any stalks or over-ripe fruit and then weigh them. Put the washed and weighed fruit into a heavy saucepan. Cast iron is ideal. Traditional brass preserving pans are OK but they do tend to leave a slight taste from the metal, which can't be good. Cast iron, on the other hand, actually provides us with traces of iron which our bodies can use to bolster iron levels in the blood. Add 1 pound of sugar for each pound of fruit. Heat slowly until the sugar dissolves, stirring all the time. When the sugar has totally dissolved you will not be able to feel it when you press the tip of a wooden spoon into the mix. If you feel a slight crunch, or grittiness, keep stirring! When you are sure it's all dissolved, turn up the heat until the jam mix boils freely. You will find that it rises up in the pan and gets quite frothy. Skim off any scummy looking froth from time to time. Finding the setting pointStart testing for setting point by dropping a little of the mix onto a cold plate. The jam is set when it wrinkles as you push it sideways with the tip of a spoon or your finger tip. If you want to be sure that the jam does not become over-cooked, you should take the pan off the heat while you test for the setting point. When setting point is reached turn off the heat and bottle the jam. BottlingYou must used sterilised and hot jars for this, otherwise you risk the jam cracking the pots. Sterilisation is important to stop bacteria and moulds spoiling the jam. You can sterilise with sterilising fluid or you can just boil the jars in hot water in a pan for a few minutes. It is best to lift the jars off the surface of the pan with a trivet. Alternatively, clean the jars thoroughly and then heat them in a medium oven for about twenty minutes. This is easiest because you don't have to dry the jars - risking conatmination as you do so. If for any reason you do use cold jars, always put a metal spoon into the jar to transfer some of the heat from the jam. If you don't do this you risk the jar cracking from the sudden change in temperature. Cover and seal with jam paper (wax paper rounds, usually sold with labels and cellaphane covers) and close-fitting lids or cellophane. You can find jam covers and labels in the co-op in the UK. Other blackberry recipes for jamYou can add a little lemon juice if you like. You can also make this jam with less sugar. It will take longer to reach setting point. About 3/4 pound to a pound of fruit will work but it will need to be eaten fairly quickly as the jam may crystallise without added pectin.If you like a firm-set jam, just add a little fruit pectin with the sugar. If you want to be sure of the jam setting properly, add some apples because they are naturally high in pectin. For most variations just keep to the proportions: for every pound of fruit a pound of sugar. This will ensure a product which keeps well. Blackberry recipes for jam can be adapted to other fruit depending on pectin content. blackberries mix well with raspberries and blueberries for example. More easy blackberry recipesBlackberries also make an excellent coulis which can be added to yogurt or other desserts. Follow the recipe here.For more easy blackberry recipes please see blackberry pie recipes.
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