Blackberry Preserves
Preparation
I knew I was going to have to save up the black raspberries. I went out each day and picked what was ripe. I saved them in bento containers in the freezer until I was ready for this recipe.
Ingredients
5 cups smashed blackberries, with or without seeds
7 cups sugar
1 box powdered pectin
How to Make Blackberry Preserves
It is extremely important to have everything ready to go before you start. Have your water bath canner filled and on the stove.
Jars already washed & in the canner for sterilization
Sugar measured out
Lids sterilized & ready to go
Put the berries into the pot and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the pectin and stir it in until it is completely dissolved. Stir! Stir! Stir!
Keep stirring until the blackberries and pectin mixture reaches a rolling boil.
(A rolling boil can not be stirred away)
At this point, you want to add all of the sugar at once and stir it in completely.
Keep stirring until the mixture reaches another rolling boil. Set your timer for ONE minute.
(You do not want it to boil for longer than a minute because that might turn your preserves into hard candy.)
Once the minute is up, turn off the heat and keep stirring until it cools down a bit and stops boiling. If you are cooking on an electric stove, completely remove the pan from the burner. If any foam has formed on the top, remove it with a metal spoon.
Lift the empty jars out of the water bath canner and put them on a towel or cooling rack on your counter or table.
NEVER put a hot jar on a cold surface because your jars can easily break if you do.
You can pour the hot water from inside one or two of the jars over your lids to help soften the rubber seals.
Ladle the blackberry preserves into the jars, leaving about 1/4" of empty or "head" space at the top of each jar.
Using a damp towel or damp paper towel, wipe the top of each jar to make sure they are clean.
An unclean jar top is one of the most common reasons for jars failing to seal properly.
Put a lid and ring on each jar, and tighten them just finger tight.
Put each jar into the water bath canner, being sure that they aren't touching each other, and process them for 10 minutes.
Once the 10 minutes have passed, lift the jars out of the water and set them on a towel or cooling rack. You should start hearing the pings of the jars starting to seal. *Fun Game* Yell excitedly each time you hear that sweet ping!
Leave the jars for 24 hours to cool and seal. Your homemade blackberry preserves will last for a year or more if stored properly out of direct sunlight. Once a jar is opened or if any failed to seal, you can keep them in the fridge for up to a month.
I actually made this! I used the original recipe from Thenerdyfarmwife. I did make a few modifications; the above is what I did. Saving it here for the future. Turned out wonderful. It is hard to describe the flavor. The Jelly tasted floral with a touch of honey. Oh! I also tried this recipe with Redbud flowers. I liked that even more. The jelly has a mulled cider kind of flavor to it.
Side Quest! - I saved wilfdlower seeds from last year and have plans to sow seeds where the Earth has some room for decoration. The Cricut vinal says, "Wishes"
I used this recipe, but I did not like it as well. It has been described as,
"poor man's honey".
That description sums it up.
