Blackberry Jam

And for my 100th post, a last farewell to the UK, in the form of making a huge batch of jam from all the blackberries I have foraged over the last few years, sadly residing at the bottom of the freezer until I remembered them, a few days before the move.

Ingredients

• 2.5 kg fruit (blackberries)
• 1.5 kg sugar
• juice of two citrus fruits (I used oranges, lemons are more traditional)

Pick through the blackberries and make sure all the insects and bramble have been removed. Heat them in a very large jam pot, along with the sugar and citrus juice. In the meantime, put two clean plates in the freezer. Stir the jam occasionally, and when it begins to leave a jelly-like residue on the sides of the pot, put a small dollop on one of the clean plates and put it back in the freezer. Time one minute, then remove the plate and run your finger through the dollop. If the jam immediately flows back in to replace the clean streak, keep simmering the jam. When the plate test shows that the jam has thickened, you can turn the heat off, and bottle it in pre-sterilised jam jars. Keeps... well, probably for a few years at least! I'll ask my family in a few years, as they were the major beneficiaries of this batch!