Friends Drift Inn Farm – Food Preservation Recipes
Today’s Appalachian New Express features Blackberry Jam. The Blackberry Jam Recipe will appear on this blog Friday.
Blackberry Jelly Recipe With Pectin
Picking Blackberries for Canning
Blackberry picking is something folks have done for generations. Around here, wild blackberries are plentiful. We know a few patches on the old family home place. Exploring back roads and mine sites, we often find blackberries growing along the back country byways. City folks call this activity foraging.
The argument at the barn this season has been about whether we should put up more blackberry jelly or more blackberry jam.
I like jam. Charlie likes jelly. I dream of Grandpa’s Blackberry Jam Cake. Charlie makes homemade biscuits with blackberry jelly a reality.
Thankfully, this year’s blackberry harvest is enormous. The rains earlier in the spring have brought us big juicy berries, plump and oozing with purple gold. So much for the manicure!
My hands are not as strong as Charlie’s, so he really comes in handy when it’s time to squeeze that last bit of blackberry essence through the cheesecloth. Jelly is more work than jam, but the thing is you can make the juice one day and make the jelly the next.
To begin you must have juice.
In a colander, spray off blackberry fruit disregarding stems, leaves, and debris. Transfer to a tall sided bowl a little at a time. I use a Kitchen Aid mixing bowl. Crush fruit with a potato masher just enough to get the juices flowing.
In a large stockpot,
At this point you could use a jelly bag strainer to remove seeds. I prefer using a KitchenAid stainless steel bowl 
I move the pulp to a “holding bowl” until I have worked through the entire batch. I then call in Charlie. We loosen the cheesecloth, making a sack. We spoon in about a cup of the pulp; gather up the cheesecloth, and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze! Repeat until all pulp is devoid of juice.
More About Blackberries
Jelly Recipes
Blackberry Jelly Recipe
Adopted from The Ball Blue Book
Blackberry Recipe, Jelly Recipe, Canning Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups blackberry juice
- 1 package powdered pectin
- 2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 5 cups of pure cane sugar
Method
1. Start water bath canner, 
2. Sterilize jars. In a shallow pan, simmer jar rings and lids.
3. Line a lipped baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place 5 8 ounce jelly jars on it, for filling.
4. In a tall sided stockpot, combine blackberry juice, pectin, lemon juice and sugar. On high heat, bring up to a rolling boil.
5. Once rolling good and angry, boil for one minute stirring to keep the foam from overflowing the pot.
6. Remove from burner and with a skimmer pull off excess foam. (I usually put this in a little bowl, refrigerate, and spread over biscuits)
7. Using a ladle and a canning funnel, fill jars to ¼ inch from top. (Called “headspace”)
8. Wipe jar rims with moist towel to remove anything that might prevent lids from sealing.
9. Remove lids from water with magnetic canning lid (best piece of canning equipment EVER).
10. Put lids on jar; add rings and hand tighten….just enough that there is resistance. No need to go “The Hulk” on these.
11. Use jar lifter and put in boiling water canner. Let the water come back up to a boil, and process 5 minutes.
12. Remove jars with lifter, and let cool on a towel out of cold drafts.
Jars will ping, as they seal. This takes anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour. I let the jars sit overnight, then make sure all are sealed by pushing down on lid. If there is “give” you did not get a good seal. You can reprocess, or if it’s just one jar, put in fridge and use immediately.
Makes 5 8 ounce jelly jars Have fun!
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More Blackberry Recipes and Home Canning Projects
Home Canning;
More About Blackberries
Jelly Recipes
Blackberries Recipes
I live in a big red barn and cook up a storm. I am not a debutante; I am a farmer and writer. I have hot flashes. I advocate for Appalachian agricultural and foodways. I sip bourbon from a tea cup. My crew is the Pointy Toed Shoes Sisters. We giggle and chase chefs. Along with my husband Charlie, I dream of growing a good life in Appalachia. 
I’d love to see your jam recipe as well! I’m going blackberry picking this weekend, and I prefer jam over jelly. I might try my hand at canning for the first time ever. 🙂
Mindy, Jam Recipe will be “up” on Friday. Now that you live in Ky, you must learn to can. It’s the law. Giggles
Thank you for the inspiration! I like jam over jelly too!