The Bramble Jelly!!!!

Well I finally got around to making my bramble jelly after all my researching and foraging.
The recipe was easy.
6lb blackberries.
3/4 pint water
3/4 ounce of citric acid.

There are many variations of recipes but this is the one I used.

blackberries.

Firstly I added the blackberries, water and citric acid to a large pan and then brought to the boil and simmered for just over an hour. You are supposed to mash/press them every so often but I skipped this step and just used my bamix at the end. Then came the tricky part...straining off the juice!!

straining the pulp.

I don't have a jelly bag...or any muslin...or a stool with 4 legs for that matter so it was a case of improvising. In the end I used a cake protector...which was basically a net with a framework inside which you can stand over a plate of cakes...same principle as a jelly bag really. Well I loaded my cooked goodness into the net which I had placed over the top of my pan and left it to drain overnight whilst I went to bed. Come morning I found that the weight of the cooked berries had collapsed the cake net into the pan so although some of the juice had come out...a lot still remained in the net as it was sat in the bottom of the pan. At this I then transferred the net into my colander and put in the pan...again this only worked to some extent as when the juices met the colander they soaked back into the bag.

just hanging around waiting for the juice to drain!!

As a last resort I bent the wires inside the net and hung it from my stove to let the last juices drain out (the net is no good now anyway and wasn't overly expensive so I didn't mind too much) and then this morning all was ready to carry on making the jelly. I discarded of the pulp that was left and measured out the juices...6lb of blackberries had given me 2 pints of liquid.

boiling away nicely.

So back into the pan went the 2 pints of liquid along with 2lb of sugar and then the mixture was brought to the boil and boiled vigorously for about 20 minutes...I used the saucer test for set...then when it was ready poured into ready sterilised jars.

cooling on the window sill.

Obviously when you make jellies you don't end up with as much as you would when making jam...but you also don't end up with seeds in your teeth!! I have no idea how this will taste once set...but it was quite nice whilst still a little warm as I had a little scrape from the bottom of the pan after I had finished placing into jars!!

I am quite happy with the look and texture but I am now definitely on the hunt for son muslin or a jelly bag..lol