As announced in our September Jam Notes, this is Allison Carroll Duffy’s third guest blog on the Pomona’s Pectin website. Jam Notes subscribers get “updates” via email when Allison’s occasional guest blogs are posted. You can sign up for Jam Notes in the sidebar to the right of this page.

Here’s Allison:

A couple of years ago my family and I moved into an old farmhouse on a few acres. We soon learned from neighbors that wild blackberry bushes used to cover the back of the property, and that the previous owners had spent a lot of time and effort trying to get rid of them.

Some people do consider them a nuisance, and indeed the bushes are thorny, but I happen to adore the gorgeous, deep-purple fruit they bear. Fortunately for us, the previous owners were not entirely successful in their task--a lovely, modestly sized wild blackberry patch remains along the border of our yard.

While the bushes didn't bear well last year, they're covered with gorgeous, good-sized, dark purple berries this summer, and we've been picking them like crazy just to keep up (and to keep ahead of the birds, who love them, too!)

The thorns are definitely large and sharp, but I find that wearing a long sleeve shirt and long pants while picking provides enough protection that thorns aren't a big deal. However, there is one thing about wild blackberries that I'm really not crazy about, and that's the seeds.

Cultivated blackberries tend to have fewer seeds, but wild blackberries are absolutely loaded with them. In the past, I've made jam just by mashing the wild berries, but I never was crazy about it because of all the seeds. This summer, now that we have our own, prolific patch of these berries, it was time to come up with a seedless version of blackberry jam.

Making seedless jam from wild berries isn't hard to do, but it does take a little time and persistence--both in the picking and the making--but I can tell you that the results are absolutely worth it.

If you're planning on using wild berries, be sure to pick in an area that has not been sprayed with weed-killers or anything else. If wild blackberries don't grow in your area, cultivated berries are an equally delicious substitute.

The basic idea in making a seedless jam is to separate the seeds from the fruit pulp. I find that the easiest way to do this is by pressing the mashed berries through a mesh strainer.

When choosing a strainer, make sure that the mesh is fine enough so that the seeds don't get through, but not too fine--if the mesh is too fine, only the juice of the berries will go through, not the pulp--and you want as much pulp as possible to pass through the strainer. Most standard kitchen strainers should fit the bill.

Use whatever tool you are comfortable with to press the mashed berries through the strainer; I like to use the back of a wooden spoon, along with my (clean) fingers. This process can take a little time, but stick with it if you can--the more pulp you press through the better, as you'll ultimately be composting the seeds and whatever else doesn't get pressed through the strainer.

You should end up with about four cups of lovely, purple blackberry pulp--almost totally free of seeds--with which to make your jam. In the end, you'll be rewarded with a luscious, smooth, spreadable jam that is delicious slathered on pancakes, muffins, toast and--according to my two young boys anyway--just about anything else.

Seedless Wild Blackberry Jam

Yield: 4 to 5 cups

Before You Begin:
Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona's pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use.

Seedless Wild Blackberry Jam Ingredients

3 quarts of blackberries
2 teaspoons calcium water
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 teaspoons Pomona's Pectin powder

Note: Many wild blackberries are quite sour, but if you are using the sweeter wild blackberries found on the West Coast, add 2 Tablespoons lemon juice to the berries at the same time that you add the calcium water. You can make this recipe with cultivated blackberries. If they are quite sweet, however, you need to add 1/4 cup lemon juice when you add the calcium water to be sure they are acid enough for safe water bath canning.

Seedless Blackberry Jam Directions

1. Wash and rinse jars, lids, and screw bands. Set screw bands aside until ready to use. Place jars in boiling water bath canner with a rack, fill at least 2/3 of the way full with water, and bring to a boil. Boil jars for 10 minutes to sterilize (add 1 additional minute of sterilizing time for every 1000 feet above sea level), then turn down heat and let jars stand in hot water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small pan, bring to a low simmer, and hold there until ready to use.

2. Pick through blackberries, discarding any stems. If blackberries look clean, rinsing them is optional.

3. Place berries in a large bowl and mash them thoroughly ( a potato masher works well for this).

4. Place a mesh strainer over a large bowl, and transfer mashed berries into the mesh strainer. Press the mashed berries through the strainer (the back of a wooden spoon, as well as clean fingers, work well for this), so that the blackberry pulp goes through the strainer into the bowl below, while the seeds remain in the strainer.

5. Measure out 4 cups of the blackberry pulp. (If you have any left over, you can use it for something else.) Pour the measured pulp into a large sauce pan. Add calcium water and stir to combine.

6. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and pectin powder. Mix well and set aside.

7. Bring blackberry pulp to rolling boil over high heat. Add sugar-pectin mixture, then stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes, still over the highest heat, to dissolve pectin. Return jam to a boil, then remove from heat.

8. Remove hot jars from canner and fill jars with jam, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, and put on lids and screw bands, tightening bands only to "fingertip tight" (until resistance is met, and then just the tiniest bit more).

9. Place jars in the hot water, on the rack inside the canner. (Make sure jars are upright, not touching each other or the sides of the canner, and are covered with at least 1-2 inches of water). Place the lid on the canner, return the canner to a rolling boil, and boil for 10 minutes. (Add 1 minute additional processing time for every 1,000 feet above sea level.)

10. Turn off heat and allow canner and jars to sit for 5 minutes. Then, remove jars from canner.

11. Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Then, confirm that jars have sealed. Remove screw bands from sealed jars, rinse off outside of jars if necessary, label jars, and store for later use.

Recipe by Allison Carroll Duffy. To print the recipe only, click here, scroll to the bottom of the page that comes up, and click the Print button.

You can read more from Allison on her blog: CanningCraft.

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