Seedless Blackberry and Apple Jam

x 1

Yield: about 6 half pints (July 1982 ‘Cuisine’)

Dutch oven
saucepan
food mill
sieve
jars
Dessert
Condiment
Canning

Ingredients

  • 6 cups blackberries ripe, picked over, rinsed, and drained
  • 2/3 apples cooking apples tart medium, such as greenings or Granny Smiths, coarsely chopped, including skins and cores
  • 1/2 cups water or more as needed
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice fresh, to taste
  • sugar for sweetening

Preparation

  1. Place 3 cups of the blackberries in a large heavy non-corrosive Dutch oven or saucepan; crush with the bottom of a bottle or potato masher.
  2. Add the remaining 3 cups of berries and crush.
  3. Stir in the apples and 1 1/2 cups of water into the berries, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the fruit is very soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add more water if the fruit begins to stick to the pan, but no more than 1/2 cup.
  4. Place a food mill or medium-mesh sieve over a large container, preferably a calibrated cup or bowl. Ladle the hot fruit mixture into the food mill and puree, or force the fruit through the sieve with the back of a spoon; discard the seedy remnants.
  5. Rinse and dry the saucepan. Return the fruit pulp to the pan; you should have about 5 cups.
  6. Taste the pulp and add lemon juice to taste. Stir in 1 cup of sugar for every cup of pulp.
  7. Heat the fruit mixture over medium-high heat to boiling; cook rapidly until a candy thermometer registers 220 degrees Fahrenheit, or until the mixture passes the jelly test (last drops falling from the spoon coalesce and fall in a sheet).
  8. Ladle the jam into sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace; seal according to the manufacturer's instructions. Store in a cool dark place.