Chef Thomas
Apple Chutney
A spiced autumn chutney made from a glut of apples and a quiet afternoon, simmered down until the kitchen smells of October and the jars line up on the counter like a small, useful insurance policy.
Culinary Explorer
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Blackberry and Apple Jam
Created by Chef Thomas
Wild blackberries and a couple of cooking apples turned into jars of deep, inky jam, the kind that holds the taste of a September walk all the way through to spring.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
20 min
Active Time
40 min cook•1 hr total
YieldAbout 4 medium jars (roughly 1.2kg)
September is a generous month if you know where to look. The blackberries are out along every lane and field edge, glossy and black and a little reluctant to come off the bramble without scratching you for the privilege. I went out on Saturday with an ice cream tub and came back with stained fingers and more fruit than I knew what to do with. The notebook decided: jam.
Blackberries on their own don't set well. They're low in pectin and high in juice, and left to themselves they'll give you something more like a sauce than a spread. The apple fixes that. A couple of Bramleys, cooked down to a fluff before the berries go in, do all the quiet work of holding the jam together. You don't taste them in the finished jar, not really. You just notice that the jam stays on the toast.
This is the kind of cooking I love best. A walk, a pan, a few jars on the windowsill catching the afternoon light, and something to give away. There are few better feelings than handing someone a warm jar of jam you made yourself. We're only making dinner. We're only making jam. The principle is the same.
I wrote it down in the notebook on Saturday evening: blackberries, apples, rain on the window, four jars. That's enough for a recipe and almost enough for a year.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
blackberries
Quantity
1kg
picked over for stalks and leaves
cooking apples
Quantity
500g
peeled, cored and roughly chopped (Bramleys if you can)
granulated sugar
Quantity
1.3kg
lemon
Quantity
1
juiced
unsalted butter (optional)
Quantity
small knob
to settle the foam at the end
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| blackberriespicked over for stalks and leaves | 1kg |
| cooking applespeeled, cored and roughly chopped (Bramleys if you can) | 500g |
| granulated sugar | 1.3kg |
| lemonjuiced | 1 |
| unsalted butter (optional)to settle the foam at the end | small knob |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy-bottomed preserving pan or stockpot
- •Wooden spoon
- •Ladle and a wide-mouthed funnel if you have one
- •Four medium jam jars with lids
- •Small saucer for the wrinkle test
Instructions
- 1
Sterilise the jars
Wash four medium jars and their lids in hot soapy water, rinse well, and put them on a tray in a low oven, 120C, for fifteen minutes to dry out and sterilise. Leave them there until you need them. Cold jam in cold jars cracks the glass; warm jam in warm jars behaves itself.
Pop a small saucer in the freezer at the same time. You'll need it later to test the set. - 2
Soften the apples
Put the chopped apples into a wide, heavy-bottomed pan with about 100ml of water and the lemon juice. Set them over a gentle heat and let them cook down for ten minutes or so, stirring now and then, until the apple has collapsed into a soft, slightly fluffy mush. This is where the pectin comes from. Don't skip it. Don't rush it.
- 3
Add the blackberries
Tip the blackberries in on top of the softened apples. Stir them through and let them cook for five minutes, just until they start to give up their juice and the whole pan turns a deep, inky purple. The kitchen will smell of hedgerows and rain. That's the smell you're after.
- 4
Add the sugar
Pour in all the sugar at once and stir gently over a low heat until every grain has dissolved. Run a wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan and feel for grittiness. If you can still feel sugar, keep stirring. Boiling jam with undissolved sugar gives you a grainy, joyless set, and there is no fixing it later.
Trust your nose and your spoon, not the clock. The sugar tells you when it's ready by going completely silent under the wood. - 5
Boil hard
Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up and bring the jam to a proper rolling boil. Not a polite simmer, a proper boil that you can't stir down. Let it bubble fiercely for eight to ten minutes. The colour will deepen, the bubbles will get smaller and glossier, and the surface will start to look like something between liquid and jelly. Skim off any pinkish foam that gathers at the edges.
- 6
Test for set
Take the pan off the heat and spoon a little jam onto your cold saucer from the freezer. Wait a minute, then push it gently with your fingertip. If the surface wrinkles and the jam holds its shape, it's ready. If it slides about like syrup, put the pan back on the heat for another two or three minutes and try again. Most jams set somewhere between minute eight and minute fifteen. Yours will tell you when it's there.
If you're nervous, a sugar thermometer reads 105C at the setting point. But the wrinkle test has worked for everyone's grandmother since long before thermometers, and it still works now. - 7
Settle and jar
Stir in the small knob of butter if you're using it. It melts the foam away in seconds. Let the jam stand for five minutes off the heat so the fruit settles evenly through it rather than floating to the top. Then ladle it carefully into the warm jars, right up to the brim, and seal straight away while everything is still hot. Label them when they've cooled. Write the date. You'll be glad in February.
Chef Tips
- •Pick the blackberries from somewhere away from busy roads, and give them a brief rinse in cold water before you use them. Don't let them sit in water or they'll go soft and lose their perfume. A quick swill, then drain them in a colander.
- •Bramleys are the right apple here because they collapse properly when cooked. Eating apples hold their shape and won't give you the same pectin lift. If all you have is eaters, add the juice of a second lemon to compensate.
- •Don't be tempted to reduce the sugar. Jam needs sugar to set, to keep, and to taste like jam rather than stewed fruit. If you want something less sweet, make a compote instead and eat it within the week.
- •Open jars keep in the fridge for about a month. Unopened, in a cool dark cupboard, the jam is good for a year. I usually find mine doesn't last that long. Someone always wants a jar.
Advance Preparation
- •The jam keeps unopened in a cool, dark cupboard for up to a year. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within a month.
- •If you can't get to the jam-making the day you pick the blackberries, freeze them on a tray and tip them into a bag once solid. Frozen blackberries make perfectly good jam, no need to defrost first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 20g)
Calories
95 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
2 mg
Total Carbohydrates
24 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
23 g
Protein
0 g
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