Today I’m sharing with you my Easy Blackberry & Apple Jelly with step-by-step video tutorial but perhaps I should have called it Bramble Jelly?
I have to admit to having had a mental block where jelly was concerned. It just conjured up images of upturned stools, muslin or jelly bags and as I didn’t own any of these I gave up without even looking into the subject further.
However, my appetite to make jelly was whetted recently by seeing lots of chatter about jelly on Facebook, so I decided to grab the bull by the horns and get over myself!
At the back of my mind I remembered seeing mention of being able to use tights to make jelly so after a quick Google for images I drew a blank but there were mentions of using tights at least. Turns out you can use so many things to strain the cooked fruit in jelly making ranging net curtains, tea towels, muslin, jelly bags, conical fruit strainers etc.
So, with no detailed instructions about the tights (I couldn’t just fill them as I didn’t have a stool to hang them from) I embarked Blue Peter style on making a strainer with a colander.
First, I found a brand new pack of 40 denier tights (any denier will do), I say brand new, they were from the closing down sale at Safeway some 15 years ago LOL! Pleased to finally put them to good use!
Then I took my colander and popped it into the tights, tied the legs to one side in a knot and then trimmed off the legs.
That took all of 20 seconds, so at this point I’m feeling a little stupid for never having pursued jelly making before now. The next thing I needed was something to suspend the colander over that was deep enough to catch the drips of juice without touching. This turned out to be the pan I use for preserving itself!
I came across reduced blackberries and Bramley apples last week so as I’ve already shared Easy Blackberry & Apple Jam I decided to embark on Easy Blackberry & Apple Jelly.
I noticed the blackberries in our local park are just starting to ripen so it’ll soon be time to forage for free blackberries (which is what I usually do)!
Hopefully, if you’ve been like me and avoided making jelly because it all seemed too complicated, this recipe will persuade you to think again.
So what did my Easy Blackberry and Apple Jelly taste like and what can you use it for?
Well hubby was first to try it on a scone and immediately gave it his seal of approval with “this is good”! He hates seeds in jam so a jelly is ideal for him. You can spread this and use it like you would jam but you can also serve it with cheese. I love the flavour and also the jewel like quality and purity that you don’t get with jam.
This recipe follows the principle of equal weights of blackberries and apples so you can easily reduce the amount of fruit to what you have. I made just over 8 x 300 ml jars and found that at a rolling boil the jelly was reaching the top of my pan so you definitely wouldn’t want to increase the amount.
I actually had no idea how much jelly I was going to get so was busy washing and sterilising more jars when I realised I didn’t have enough! If you like giving homemade preserves as Christmas presents then this Easy Blackberry and Apple Jelly recipe is ideal.
Things to be aware of when making jelly:
- Avoid hexagonal jars, they can easily trap air bubbles.
- You can hold your jars at a slight angle when potting up to avoid trapping air bubbles around the neck.
- Avoid over boiling, this may result in a jelly with tiny air bubbles trapped inside.
- If you find your jelly hasn’t set, just tip it back into your pan, re-boil and do the plate test again.
- Smaller quantities are more preferable than the quantity I used
- Don’t under any circumstances be tempted to squeeze the fruit when straining, this will give a cloudy jelly.
- Jelly making follows the same principles of jam and relies on pectin to set so low pectin fruits will need lemon juice or additional pectin.
More jelly recipes
Once you’ve made my Blackberry and Apple Jelly you might like to try the following jellies:
- Gooseberry, Apple & Mint Jelly
- Easy Crab Apple Jelly
- White Currant Jelly – Jam
- Easy Redcurrant and Port Jelly
- Plum Jelly
- Grape Jelly
Blackberry preserve recipes
If you still have more blackberries to use up then here are some delicious blackberry jam recipes:
- Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam (small batch)
- Easy Blackberry & Apple Jam
- Blackberry & Raspberry Jam
- Tutti Frutti Jam (Strawberry, Blackberry, Blueberry & Raspberry Jam)
- Blackberry Curd
I know you’ll love my Blackberry & Apple Jelly so don’t forget to tag @FabFood4All on social media or leave a comment below when you make it. I love hearing from you!
Pin my Easy Blackberry & Apple Jelly for later!
Easy Blackberry & Apple Jelly with step-by-step video tutorial
Ingredients
- 1 kg blackberries
- 1 kg Bramley apples
- granulated sugar 450g per 500 ml juice
- water
Instructions
- Soak and rinse the blackberries to get rid of any insects etc.
- Cut the apples into dice (don’t peel or core).
- Place the fruits into a preserving pan or similar with enough water to barely cover.
- Gradually bring to the boil and then simmer for 1 hour (uncovered).
- Strain the fruit (see notes) and leave for at least 2 hrs or overnight covered with a tea towel. (Do not under any circumstances be tempted to push or squeeze the fruit, this will result in cloudy jelly).
- Place 2 – 3 saucers in the freezer for testing set.
- Measure the juice and stir in 450g or granulated sugar for each 500 ml of juice. (Mine measured 1.85 ltr to which I added 1.665 kg sugar).
- Heat gently to dissolve the sugar, stirring constantly.
- Remove any scum with a slotted metal spoon.
- Once the sugar has dissolved slowly bring the pan to the boil and once at a rolling boil, time for 20 minutes, then take off the heat.
- Test a few drops of jelly on a chilled saucer and pop in the fridge for a minute.
- Push you finger through the jelly and if it crinkles and forms a gel like clot which you can tip over then it’s ready. If not carry on boiling for 2 minutes and repeat plate test until set achieved.
- If there is any scum left then remove (there shouldn’t be now).
- Then pot up into hot sterilised jars (see notes) using a ladle and jam funnel if you have one and place lids on immediately.
- You may find the jelly tries to set before you get it in the jars, if this happens then just set the pan over a low heat.
- Store in a cool, dark place and once opened keep in the fridge.
- Unopened jars will be good for at least a year and most likely much longer.
Barbara
I substituted mulberries for blackberries and added elderflower cordial to taste (about 1/8 cup) before adding the sugar. My family loves it, my grandaughter eats it off the spoon! Thank you for the inspiration.
Camilla
Sounds wonderful Barbara, glad to have inspired you:-)
Sarah
Reduced this recipes to 1/5 and it made a jar exactly!
200g blackberries
200g apples
225g sugar (we got 250ml of juice)
We did the set test at about 15 minutes.
Thank you so much for this recipe, we will definitely be making more!
Camilla
Excellent Sarah, so glad you like the recipe:-)
Jenny
Like you, I’ve always been a bit wary of the word fruit `jelly` but it was well worth trying this recipe. The taste is fabulous and very addictive. Just going out for a walk to find more ingredients. Thank you
Camilla
Excellent Jenny, so glad you like the recipe:-)
Sarah jane Gaffney
I used 1.5 kg of both just because that was how much we had picked and we got 9 jars out of that. Recipe was spot on thank you
Camilla
Excellent Sarah, thank you so much for your feedback:-)
Shelagh
Camilla, once again you are spot on.
I used a combined weight of 600g brambles/bramley and was a wee bit short of a normal jam jar + 2 little glass “yoghurt pot” jars, delighted!
The little jars are just right for a gift, I find the reusable silicone cap vacuums on nicely too.
I now have a selection of your jams in my pantry, all one punnet recipes.
Is it too much information to know my tights washed clean and I reckon they would be wearable at a push . . . .
Camilla
Oh Sheila, you’re such a tonic, I just laughed so hard:-) So glad you like this and my other jams, that’s lovely to hear:-)
Rosemary
I used 850g apples and blackberries but only got two smallish jars! Maybe I didn’t use enough water to simmer the fruit. It looks good though so may try again with this year’s crop. Thanks for the recipe.
Camilla
Is that total weight? Otherwise hard to know what went wrong, the recipe is tried and tested and works as written.
Dot Bowen
The jelly was nice but the yield really terrible. Forget small batch it was miniscule.
I also thought the fruit pulp before straining was “dry”.
Still delicious, just need to increase amounts.
Camilla
Hi Dot, it sounds like you had the heat too high and or not enough water to begin with which would account for you thinking the fruit was too dry. My fruit yielded 1.85 ltrs or juice on straining yielding 8 x 300 mls jars.
Georgina Gowland
Wow! This was so easy and worked so well. Tastes absolutely delicious. Thank you
Camilla
Thank you Georgina, so glad you like it, it’s one of my favourite jams:-)
Michelle Rao (Gilson)
are these metric measurements ? how do I convert them ? Please add my email to your list I tried but your link failed ty
Camilla
Hi Michelle, sorry for the late reply I’ve been working all day (and night) and yes they are metric measurements for which you’ll need a set of scales. You can’t convert a weight to a volume as it won’t be accurate. So I could send you off to a conversion website but chances are that the resulting jam would not be a success because of it. Today I thought I’d try to make a blueberry jam and give cup measurements but depending on the size of the blueberries the difference in weight between 1 cup or blueberries and the next was anything from 124 to 142 grams which wen you multiply up gives a huge difference to the total recipe. So I gave up as realised it just couldn’t be done (which I already knew really). Regarding your signing up to my news letter, that’s something you’ll need to do, perhaps try again or on another device. I’ve removed your e-mail from the comment to protect your data.
glenn hutton
I use to go blackberry picking when I was a child and it has some great memories… Might take this up again if I can make recipes using them like this one!
Camilla
Me too, great to go full circle with these things and this is such a awesome jam:-)
Shannon Hepburn Carey
Do you need a water bath or any other extra step in the canning process? I’d like to try this but I want to make sure it won’t spoil edits I get to enjoy it all. We don’t do much jams and jellies in the house regularly.
Camilla
Hi Shannon, we don’t water bath jams in Europe and elsewhere. This jam is shelf stable providing you sterilise your jars first and follow my instructions:-) It’s best eaten in the first year for optimum colour and flavour but the sugar will preserve it for years. Just keep in a cool, dark place to keep it at its best. I keep mine in a cupboard in my garage.
Margaret Gallagher
Still have quite a few in my freezer – perfect recipe all the family will love
Camilla
Excellent Margaret:-)