Seedless blackberry jam

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
6 cups Ripe blackberries
2½ cup Tart apples; coarse chopped (2 to 3 medium, include skins and cores)
1½ cup Water, or more as needed
3 tablespoons Fresh lemon juice; strained or more to taste
5 cups Granulated sugar (about)

Directions

Wash six half pint jars. Keep hot until needed. Prepare lids as manufacturer directs.

Place half the berries in a large pot; crush them with a potato masher or heavy bottle. Add remaining berries and crush them. Or chop the berries briefly in a food processor.

Add the apples and the 1-½ cups water to the berries. Cook the mixture uncovered over medium low heat stirring often, until the fruit is very soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Add up to ½ cup more water if the fruit threatens to stick to the pan; stir the fruit almost constantly.

Set a food mill with a fine disc (or use a medium mesh sieve) over a bowl. Force the hot fruit through the sieve, using the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula; discard the seeds. Rinse out the pot.

Measure the fruit pulp back into the pot; you should have about 5 cups. Taste the pulp; add enough lemon juice to make the fruit pleasantly tart. Stir in 1 cup of granulated sugar for each cup of pulp.

Heat the mixture over medium high heat to boiling, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cook the jam rapidly, stirring frequently, until it reaches 220 degrees F on a candy thermometer (216 degrees at 2,000 feet; 214 degrees at 3,000 feet, etc.).

Ladle the hot jam into one jar at a time, leaving ¼-inch head space. Wipe jar rim with a clean, damp cloth. Attach lid. Fill and close remaining jars. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes (15 minutes at 1,001 to 3,000 feet, 20 minutes at 3,001 to 6,000 feet.)

Fully ripe blackberries, loganberries, boysenberries or Marionberries are used instead of slightly under ripe berries because the apples supply the pectin needed to make it jell, and the lemon juice provides a welcome tartness. The result is a preserve that captures the full flavor of the berry. A delicious filling for tiny tars or layer cake.

Makes about 6 half pints

Source: From Fancy Pantry by Helen Witty. Published in the Oregonian Foodday by Jan Roberts-Dominguez Typos by Dorothy Flatman 1995 Submitted By DOROTHY FLATMAN On 07-21-95

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