Let's Make Some Blackberry Preserves!

Every Saturday morning I (Myke) get up with the girls so Allison can get a little more sleep, and I can spend some time with them. Over the last 6 months, we’ve gotten into a little pattern. I wake them up, and we put on our slippers and I start making breakfast.

It’s always the same breakfast, every Saturday. Bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast with my personal favorite, blackberry jam. Now let me tell you about blackberry Jam, I am practically addicted to it. It’s currently the only Jam/Jelly/Preserve I will eat. If we are at a restaurant, and they have a blackberry flavored drink, that’s what I’m ordering. blackberry pie? Yes, please! blackberry flavored sparkle water? I will drink all of them.

However, the interesting thing is, I don’t really like to eat just plain blackberries. Just things made with blackberries. We always keep a jar of jam/jelly/preserve, whatever’s on sale in the fridge at all times. And Olivia and Meghan have taken a liking to it.

What really sparked the idea to make some homemade blackberry preserve, was that we ran out of the olallieberry preserve we picked up on our Pismo Beach trip. I thought that a homemade jam would be better than something storebought.

The process is pretty simple, and despite what the many articles I read online said, you don’t need a ton of special equipment. You just need:

• New Mason Jars
• Lot’s of blackberries
• Pectin
• 2 large pots
• Potato masher
• Oodles of sugar
• Tongs (so you don’t burn yourself)

It’s simple, I just followed the directions that came with the pectin, but I’ll lay them out here.

Mash the berries to a nice pulp with the potato masher, while you’re doing it get a large pot of water boiling so you can sterilize the jars. Once the water is boiling, submerge the empty mason jars, without the lids for a few minutes.

Get the berry mash and the pectin boiling in a saucepan, it needs to be a roiling boil. Basically, if it still boils while you’re stirring, you’re good. Add the sugar and then boil for whatever time the package says, pull the mason jars out of the boiling water, fill them with the tasty preserve, and tighten the lids.

Place the jars in the boiling water for like 10 minutes, then pull them out and set them on a towel on the counter. Let them slowly cool down over 12 hours, or just wait till the next day.

Once the jars have cooled and sealed, toast some bread pop the seal on a jar and enjoy!

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