Making Blackberry Preserves, or any fruit preserve recipe is so satisfying and easy to do. And, Backyard Berries that you just picked makes it even more satisfying to accomplish.
Begin with good quality berries. I’m so lucky to have free Free FREE!, enormous wild blackberries on the edge of my country backyard.
These berries were actually planted by birds sitting on my trellises bringing seeds from the wild berries across the road and fertilizing them. Over the past few years, I allowed the long trailing blackberry canes take over one of my flowerbeds. What a wonderful berry patch it has turned into! This year there are well over 50 long 5-10’ canes in the patch. On one cane alone, I counted over 800 berries! Each bunch offers up 10-15 berries. Plus, the extensive rain we’ve had this spring has been a real boon for their growth!
Watch my blog and check out my website for even more blackberry recipes…pies, cakes, scones, muffins, hand pie pastries, cheesecakes, cobbler, breakfast oatmeal cookies, coffee cake, cheesecake cookies, Bundt cakes, etc. The berries are prolific this year as will be the recipes coming out of my kitchen.
Prepare your sauce pan:
I use a 3-quart sauce pan to use on the stove top, to avoid any spillage while stirring and the berries simmer. It's easy to double this recipe, so make sure to use a larger pan if you do.
Gather up your Ingredients:
1# Blackberries, fresh picked
¼ C Water
¾ C Sugar
1 T Cornstarch
1 t Vanilla extract
NOTE: If you don’t know what 1 pound of blackberries looks like, it’s about 2-2.5 quarts worth.
Mix and cook up those preserves:
-If your berries were fresh picked, start by cleaning your berries and pouring them into a large bowl of water. Gently swirl the berries around, letting the twigs and pickers (and, yes, any little bugs) float to the top of the water and skim them off. Scoop the clean berries out of the water into another bowl or onto a clean towel. There’s no need to dry them off.
-With the burner on medium low, pour the cleaned blackberries, water and ½ cup of the sugar into your saucepan. (If you want less sweetness, cut back on the sugar by a quarter cup.)
-Stir and macerate the berries with a potato masher as the mixture warms up.
-Increase the heat a little so the berry mixture begins to simmer.
-While the berry mixture is heating up, whisk the cornstarch and the rest of the sugar together in a little bowl to mix it thoroughly. I do this so that the cornstarch does not create any clumping when I add it to the berry mix.
-As the hot mixture begins to simmer, sprinkle the cornstarch/sugar mixture on top and stir in to combine thoroughly. (Feel free to play around with the amount of cornstarch you use. The more you use, the thicker the berry mixture will be, the less, the runnier it will be. It just depends on whether you want a thin sauce or thicker preserves type of berry mixture.)
-Continually stir the berry mixture as it thickens, simmering 3-5 minutes.
-Remove the pan with your berry mixture off the heat. The mixture will thicken as it cools.
-If there is any foamy matter on the top or edges, just skim it off. There’s nothing wrong with it – some people just don’t care for the appearance.
-There’s no need to strain the final product. If you don’t care for the seeds, go ahead and strain it. Then you’ll end up with a colorful translucent mixture. I personally prefer to use the entire berry mixture without straining it.
-Now your Blackberry Preserves are ready to spread on toast, drizzle over your ice cream, use on thumbprint cookies. -Pour some on top of a square of cream cheese to spread over homemade crackers. Stir a teaspoon in your hot tea like Gram used to do when we had afternoon tea and sandwiches. Or add to anything else your heart desires.
Store for extended enjoyment:
-Store in a tightly covered glass jar in the refrigerator for 6-8 weeks.
-Or, freeze in a plastic airtight container for up to 3 months. Let the preserves thaw in the refrigerator in their closed container.
Whether you enjoy your Blackberry Preserves spread on warm toast for breakfast or drizzled on strawberry ice cream as a dessert, enjoy them with someone you love. However you enjoy yours, “Bake your own Memories!”
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