Berry Simple

There are so many beautiful berries. And so many delicious things to do with them. The creek-beds in our hometown offer up buckets and buckets of August blackberries. This year we made blackberry freezer jam.

Anne and her mother made cooked jam.
And cobbler.

None of these things should intimidate you. But for some reason they all intimidated me until I actually did them. When I started baking our family's bread I felt like it deserved a finer spread than off-brand jelly (and I was a little hopped up on the satisfaction of "home-made,") so I whipped up a batch of strawberry freezer jam and...lawzie! Buttered toast + jam= paradise to my palate every morning. I knew right then that we'd never go back to store-bought preserves. And it was as simple as picking up a box of pectin at the supermarket, having plenty of sugar and a few empty Tupperware containers on hand, and securing an adequate supply of fruit (1 quart for a batch of strawberry freezer jam).
The folded insert inside the pectin box tells you exactly what to do to make almost any type of jam or jelly you could imagine. My only tip is to follow the instructions with precision -- add all those cups of sugar (don't make them scant to ease your healthy-conscience) the slightest bit of alteration and you won't be happy with the way the jam sets up.
While I'm partial to the charm of picking sun-warmed berries along the creek beds of Southern Oregon, frozen/store-bought berries make lovely jam, too.

--Emily

Seedless Blackberry Cooked Jam

Like Emily mentioned, making jam often feels intimidating, but I was amazed at how simple it was. If you can read a recipe, you can make jam. What I love most about how my mom does cooked jam, is that she doesn't even use a canner, so you don't have to worry if you don't have all the fancy equipment.

In all her years of jamming, Mom swears by 100% Natural Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin. Get yourself some jars, lids, and pectin, and you're ready to go. Mom follows the recipe in the pectin box for Blackberry cooked jam, but also has a few tricks up her sleeve, which I will now pass on to you. (You're welcome!)

First: To crush the berries, my mom uses a food mill. If you want to be a jammer, this is a great investment, and I've found new ones as low as $18 on Amazon. Another good bet is second hand. Think yard sale, Goodwill, or your grandma. If you don't have a food mill, just use a spoon to crush the berries through a sieve. Another hint from Mom--start with frozen berries. It's easier to get them through the food mill. (If you freeze berries in ziploc bags, make sure you put the thawing berries in a bowl--as the blackberry juice leaks out of the bags during the thaw!)
Second: After you've cooked your berries, and mixed in the pectin and sugar, as per the Sure Jell recipe, you need to get your hot jam into your jars quickly. As you might guess, ladeling could prove messy. Mom uses this handy little funnel. Highly recommended.


Third: In order to do cooked jam without a canner, you need to be quick about getting your hot jam in the jars and then boil your lids like this before you put them on.

As soon as you get the lids and rings on, turn the jars upside down. This will help them seal.
After about 10 minutes you can turn them right side up and you'll start to hear each one "click." That's how you know they've sealed. (I love that sound!)

Blackberry Cobbler

For me, dessert doesn't get better than this. I die about the warm berries mixed with the cold ice cream, and the bready topping gives it the perfect texture.

For the berries:

In a small pot mix 1 cup sugar, 1 tbsp corn starch, and 1 cup water. Place pot on heat and bring to a boil. Let boil for 1 min, stirring constantly. Take off heat and add 3 cups blackberries. Pour mixture into 9x13 baking dish. Dot mixture with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon.

For the top:

In a small bowl mix 1 cup flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix in 3 tbsp butter. Add 1/2 cup milk. Drop topping in spoonfuls onto fruit.

Bake @400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Serve over vanilla ice cream. Love every delish minute of it.

--Anne