Black Berry Jamble

I just love the book "Jamberry" don't you? My sister Jennie sent it to us and it has been in my mind, and on our reading list, since we went berry picking not too long ago.

We picked 10 pounds of blackberries and turned them all, well. . . almost all, into black berry jam.

Want to know how to make incredible jam from the insane number of berries your family picks while chasing each other around the long rows of berry bushes you find at the huge pick-your-own farm?

As promised, here you go:


Step one: Go out and pick yourself a whole bunch of berries.










Okay. If you really want to, you can go buy them (about 2 quarts should do it for one recipe) but what supermarket is going to sell monsters like these? Really. Each berry is a mouthful. A big, juicy mouthful.









Prep your jars. You can run them through your dishwasher to steralize them (lids too) and keep it on 'warm dry' until you are ready to fill them. Or you can wash in hot soapy water and keep the flat lid parts in a pan of hot water (to keep the sealing compound soft and warm)

Right before you make your jam, lay a towel out on your counter. Something very easy to wash, because it's about to get stained.

Oh, and eat a few berries. No sense in doing this if you aren't going to have some fun!








Make sure you have pectin. This stuff is what makes your jam get firm. It is derived from apples and is an all natural product. All fruit has pectin in it, but unripened fruits have more and we don't want to make jam out of little green berries. So, get a package of pectin. Or several, if your family goes nuts on the berry picking part of this recipe.









Measure out your sugar now. You won't have time to do it later. So, get a big bowl and carefully measure 7 cups of sugar. Yup. 7. Don't be sloppy here. Overfill your measuring cup and carefully run the flat back of a knife over it to smooth out the top. Dump that into your bowl and repeat 6 more times!

Accuracy is key when making jam. Too much or too little sugar and your jam won't set.








Now it's time to mash and measure your berries. You'll need 5 cups of mashed berries. So, get your big measuring cup out and put berries in it. Squish a little with with a potato masher. Measure the 5 cups AFTER you mash, not before. And, of course, after you eat a few more of those irrisistable berries.







Pour your measured berries into a moderately big pot. Notice that I have two pots on the stove. The larger one in the back is half full of water and has a nice high flame under it to get it boiling. We'll need this later.








Before you turn the heat on under your berries, sprinkle in the pectin and stir to combine.









Turn your heat on to medium high and stir constantly. You need to keep this fruit moving and the pectin mixing. Keep stirring until you get the berries to a rolling boil. This means that the boil shouldn't care if you are stirring or not. It should bubble like crazy. (Notice that the black berries aren't black anymore. They turn a lovely shade of raspberry . . .)




. . . Dump in your sugar and . . .








KEEP STIRRING! Bring this back to a full rolling boil. Once you are sure it's boiling hard, time it for exactly one minute. And don't stop stirring. Even if your children wrap themselves around your ankles and try to pull you out the door to play a game of chase the baby. Do. Not. Stop. Stirring.

Notice that my picture of this step is blurry. Do you know why? I was stirring!






When that one minute is up, turn off the heat and don't touch it for about 5 minutes. Then give it a little stir to bring the fruit pieces up again.














Uh oh! Someone stole my jam! This is what your empty pot will look like after you carefully ladle all that hot goo into your jelly jars and wipe off their rims and place their lids and rings on.















Once your jars are filled, put them in that big pot of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Make sure you've turned your heat down to low and you keep it at a slow simmer to avoid breaking your jars. The water should come about 1 to 2 inches over the tops of the jars.

Use tongs to carefully remove the jars and place them on that towel we set out at the beginning. Don't touch them. Let them slowly cool down to room temperature. Letting them sit overnight is best.

Your jam will be good on the shelf, without refrigeration, for about a year. I doubt very highly, however, that it will have that long to wait!

Enjoy!