Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam (aka Seedless Bramble Jam) is a delicious small batch jam made with just 3 ingredients: blackberries, granulated sugar, freshly squeezed lemon juice and no pectin.
It has a concentrated blackberry flavour with a delicious tang provided by the lemon juice which complements it beautifully.
How did this Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam come about?
Recently I went out foraging just as the local blackberries here in Surrey were starting to ripen.
After over an hour of foraging, I brought home my small booty. It seems everyone else had the same idea!
“What can I do with a small amount of blackberries?” was my immediate thought!
Having a husband who loathes seeds the idea of Seedless Blackberry Jam soon sprang to mind! Which turned out well as he absolutely loves this jam.
Why should you make Seedless Blackberry Jam?
- Since posting, my Seedless Blackberry Jam won 2nd prize at the local Parish Day (July 2022)!
- The main ingredient, ie the blackberries, are free if you forage for them. Who doesn’t love free food?
- This is a super quick and easy blackberry preserve recipe made without pectin.
- It’s similar to bramble jelly but much quicker to make.
- Seeds aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, particularly with the very young and denture wearers. (Hastily ads that hubby doesn’t fall into either of these categories)!
- This recipe is the perfect way to use up a small quantity of foraged blackberries.
- My hubby says this is the best homemade Seedless Blackberry Jam recipe ever!
Can you use frozen blackberries to make this blackberry jam?
Yes, you can either thaw the blackberries or use from frozen but the latter will take a little longer to mash and heat through with the sugar.
Do all the blackberries need to be perfectly ripe to make this seedless jam?
No, I had many blackberries with red patches on them. A scattering of slightly underripe berries will just add to the pectin level (blackberries are already quite high in pectin) and help the jam set quicker.
When are blackberries in season?
Blackberries are usually at their peak in August and early September in the UK. However, this seems to vary depending on the weather each year.
Tips on foraging blackberries
You’ll need to prepare well to avoid being scratched by the brambles and stung by the accompanying stinging nettles so here’s my handy checklist to consider before you go foraging:
- Wear something with protective long sleeves eg a jacket.
- Gardening gloves are handy as even the blackberry leaves are barbed and will scratch you.
- Bring or find a stick or branch for moving spikey bramble stems out of the way.
- Wear sturdy shoes (I wore my plastic gardening clogs). Great for stepping on prickly brambles as you reach for those juicy berries that no one else could reach!
- Bring someone with you if you can in case you stumble and fall.
How to make this Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam recipe
- Gather your ingredients: blackberries, granulated sugar and lemon juice.
- Place them in a preserving pan (or similar).
- Place pan over very low heat and mash blackberries thoroughly.
- Stir with a wooden spoon until all the sugar has dissolved. (Do not allow to simmer).
- Pour mixture into a sieve and press pulp through with the back of a metal spoon.
- Add pulp/juices back to the pan.
- Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil.
- Time for 90 seconds, stirring continuously then take the jam off the heat.
- Test for set by placing a few drops of jam on a chilled plate.
- Push your finger through the jam, if it crinkles, it’s ready. The time your jam takes to set depends on the juiciness of your blackberries as well as how ripe they are. If the jam is not ready, boil for 15 – 30 more seconds and retest until ready.
- Pot up into hot sterilised jar/s.
- Seal with lid/s immediately.
What is the difference between Seedless Blackberry Jam and Blackberry Jelly?
Although Seedless Blackberry Jam is similar to Blackberry Jelly in some ways ie they both don’t contain seeds. Jelly is made by suspending the fruit over a bowl in a membrane such as muslin and none of the fruit pulp is pushed through.
The clear juice is then boiled up with the sugar. This gives a pure, jewel-like jelly unlike jam which has all the fruit pulp in it.
What can you use homemade Seedless Blackberry Jam for?
- Spread it on bread, toast, scones, croissants, Scotch pancakes, crumpets etc.
- Use a filling for doughnuts, cakes etc eg Victoria Sponge.
- Add to cake batter and baked desserts.
- Swirl into cheesecake, yogurt, or rice pudding.
- Use as a topping for steamed pudding.
Is Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam shelf stable?
I get asked this question a lot by my readers from across the pond where water bathing is more common. In the UK we make our jams by potting up hot jam into hot sterilized jars.
The sugar will preserve the jam for years and is best stored in a cool, dark, dry place. However, for optimum colour and flavour, it’s best to eat within the first 12 months. So the answer is yes.
How long will the jam keep once opened?
Once opened, store the Seedless Blackberry Jam in the fridge where it will keep for a few months or more provided you always use a clean spoon to dispense it.
Can you water bath this Seedless Blackberry Jam?
Yes, simply follow the instructions for the brand and size of your jar/s.
More Seedless & Blackberry Preserve Recipes
With the blackberry season being so abundant you’ll need more recipe ideas, so do check out the following:
- Easy Seedless Raspberry Jam
- Blackberry & Apple Jam
- Blackberry & Apple Jelly
- Tutti Frutti Jam (Bumbleberry Jam) – Strawberry, Blackberry, Blueberry & Raspberry
- Blackberry & Raspberry Jam
- Seedless Strawberry Jam
- Blackberry Curd
I’m sure you’ll love my Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam. The flavour takes me back to my favourite childhood sweets, Jelly Tots! Do you remember those?
Pin Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam!
Leave a comment and rating below when you’ve made this recipe; I love getting your feedback! You can also share your pictures by tagging @FabFood4All over on Instagram.
Easy Seedless Blackberry Jam
Equipment
- Preserving pan or large pan
- sieve
- Glass bowl
- long wooden spoon
- Large metal spoon
- jam funnel
- 1 – 2 small jam jars
Ingredients
- 370 g blackberries rinsed and dried of excess water
- 320 g granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon 15 ml lemon juice
Instructions
- Place blackberries, granulated sugar and lemon juice into a preserving pan or similar.
- Place pan over a low heat and mash the blackberries thoroughly. (Do not allow to simmer).
- Continue gently heating and stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves completely. (Listen out for any crunching against the spoon).
- Pour blackberry mixture into a sieve over a glass bowl (using a spatula to scrape any seed residue left in the pan).
- Use the back of a large metal spoon to push the pulp through the sieve until left with a dry seedy residue. (Be patient, takes about 5 minutes).
- Pour the sieved juices back into the pan.
- Turn the heat to high and bring to a rolling boil and time for 90 seconds. (Mine was ready in just under 2 minutes). If you have a digital thermometer you can use that and test when mixture reaches 105C.
- Remove from heat and test for set by placing a few drops of jam on a chilled saucer and place in the fridge for 30 seconds.
- Push a finger through the jam and if it forms gentle crinkles and is tacky then it has reached setting point.
- If setting point hasn’t been reached then bring the jam back to a rolling boil for another 15 – 30 seconds and repeat test until ready. (My first attempt was over done at 4 minutes so just be aware that this jam sets very quickly).
- Then pot up by pouring the jam into a hot sterilised jar/s using a jam funnel if you have one.
- Seal with lid/s immediately.
- Makes approximately 300 ml of jam (just over one small jar).
Video
Notes
Place 2 – 3 saucers/small plates in the freezer.
Sterilise jars by washing in hot soapy water (or take straight from dishwasher), fill with boiling water, empty and then place in oven for 20 minutes at 140°C where you leave them until the jam is ready. Washed lids should be sterilised with boiling water and then left to drain (if still wet place in oven once you’ve turned the heat off and run with just the fan for a few minutes).
Picasso
Brilliant. Thank you. Two comments though.
First, if you sieve the blackberries before adding the sugar, you can put the seeds in the compost bin.
Secondly, if you make this a lot, it’s worth buying a food mill as it de-seeds the blackberries very easily. (I heat them a bit first if they aren’t soft.) It also de-seeds raspberries and I also use it when making apple sauce (no need to peel or core but I quarter them and zap them in the microwave first) and tomato sauce for pasta as it gets rid of the skins and purées the rest of the sauce beautifully. It also does amazing mash! (Sorry, is that OTT?! It’s my favourite gadget at the moment!)
Camilla
Hi Picasso, glad you like the recipe and have found a method that suits you. I’m afraid I had to edit out the Lakeland link you added as when these products go from sites I’m left with broken links that I then have to go back in and fix or remove down the line.
Billy Rees
Had a load of juicy blackberries growing in my garden and didn’t know what to do with them. After a quick search online I found this great recipe… I’ve made this jam twice now and it’s come out amazing.
When I was 11, I tried a similar recipe that was in a kids cook book I had, but I must have done something wrong as it ended up with a crunchy texture, like it was full of undesolved sugar!
The second time I made this, I used about 10% less sugar just to give it a bit more bite.
Camilla
So glad you like the recipe and that it worked for you this time! When you were a kid and got crunchy jam it would have been because you didn’t allow the sugar to fully dissolve before bringing to the boil.
Krista
Would love to try but can’t figure out how many cups toy use? I don’t have a clue how to convert from grams to cups.
Camilla
Hi Krista there are online cup conversion sites but they’re not accurate as a cup of blackberries will weigh a different amount to another cup depending on the size of the blackberries. For accuracy you need a set of digital scales which are not at all expensive. A weight cannot accurately be converted to a volume unless it’s a liquid. Scales will transform your jam making and baking for the better, believe me.
Elsie Lopez
I used this recipe for boysenberry jam! Came out perfect! My boysenberry bushes (2) are yielding more each year. Can’t wait for next years crop!
Camilla
Awesome Elsie, would love to try boysenberry jam! Never even seen on so not likely to happen sadly:-(
Tracy
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I’m curious, once opened how long does the jam last in refrigerator??
Camilla
You’ll find the answer to this question in the blog post above the recipe card.
Lauren
It tastes delicious and somehow I missed the checking temp!! I’m literally beating myself up… but how long does it take to set after getting in the fridge…
Camilla
Hi Lauren, you don’t need to test the temperature, the most important step is the chilled plate test. If you were scaling the recipe up then the testing of the temperature would be important and act as a guide as to when to test for set. The jam should set by the next day (once it has cooled) you don’t need to put it in the fridge until you open it, however it will make the jam firmer.
Sheridan Smith
Used berries I’d frozen. Jam was so tasty and a perfect consistency. Can’t wait for new seasons crop! So easy.
Camilla
Great idea Sheridan, so glad you like the recipe:-)
lana Judd
when doubling etc. do you increase the cooking time ?
Camilla
Hi Lana, doubling the recipe may more than double the cooking time. If changing the ingredient quantities it’s best to use a digital/sugar thermometer to guide you as to when to do the plate test (104 – 105.5C).
Celia Crimmins
Hi, What a fabulous recipe. My last years blackberry jam would not come out of the jar. Me thinks I cooked it for too long. This one today is so quick and looks delicious. Many thanks Celia
Camilla
So glad you like the recipe Celia. A digital thermometer might be the answer to overcooked jam.
Charlene Tobin
I love this recipe! I made a beautiful batch. Then I made another batch last night and it’s not setting. Can I fix it? It’s in jars.
Thank you!
Camilla
Hi Charlene, no problem, just pour the jam back into a pan and continue boiling until it passes the plate test. Of course you’ll need to wash and resterilise your jars. Good luck!
Charlene Tobin
Thank you do much!
Camilla
A pleasure:-)
Sharon Jarrett
My husband decided to “help” me and preceded to run the fresh blackberries through my sieve presser before even cooking with lemon juice and sugar.
Did he just ruin this for me?
Camilla
I don’t imagine so, but your yield will be reduced as you’d get more cooked pulp through the sieve than raw blackberry pulp I imagine. But good on your husband for wanting to help:-)
Karen S Phillips
This recipe is absolutely delicious! My husband and I agree that it most closely tastes like the blackberry jam of our youth. Thank you so much for sharing it!!!
Camilla
Aaw, that’s wonderful Karen, so glad this recipe connects you to your youth 🙂
Debs
Can’t see the quantity of anything maybe I’m missing it??
Camilla
Hi Debs, all my recipes are at the bottom of the page. There’s a Jump to Recipe tab at the top for ease:)
Goldie
This is a great simple recipe, picked blackberries yesterday , scaled up recipe and have 7 beautiful coloured jars of blackberry jam , left some berries for texture
Camilla
Wonderful Goldie, so glad you like the recipe:-)
Alison Ball
This is setting up now. I used a mixture of fresh and defrosted frozen blackberries foraged locally, put them through my moulin, and scaled up for 1.2kg of pulp & juice.
It did take a long time to get to temperature, much easier to tell with a digital thermometer, I just jarred up when it got 105°C.
I did roughly equal weight of prepared blackberry to sugar.
Because I removed the seeds prior to adding sugar, I was able to compost them.
Edward J Hallett
I cooked the blackberries strained out the pips reheated it but it just wont set
Camilla
Hi Edward, I feel the clue to this is that you “reheated”. The jam needs to be on a high heat in order to reach a rolling boil so that enough moisture can be lost to form the jam.If you did do this then carry on until you get to setting stage, the jam will drip slowly off a wooden spoon as you get towards setting stage.
Anita
Would you convert grams to cups please! I don’t know how to do that.
Also for your seedless raspberry jam. Would love to make your recipes. Thanks so much.
Camilla
Hi Anita, you cannot convert a weight to a volume accurately which is why I don’t do this. I spent an afternoon weighing out cups of blueberries of different sizes one afternoon and when you scaled up the different sized blueberries to a full recipe the difference in weight was enough to throw my recipe and timings. I believe a set of digital scales doesn’t cost much more than a coffee out but the investment in accurate recipe making is so much more worthwhile. Giving out bad information is not something I’m willing to do as ingredients are not cheap and I also value my readers to much.
Honey
Really good recipe I used a little bit less sugar as I’m not one for very sweet things but I really enjoyed this recipe thank you
Camilla
So glad to hear that Honey, thank you for leaving your feedback which is useful for others:-)
Jen
How long does this jam stay good in the refrigerator?
Camilla
Hi Jen, see the heading “How long will the jam keep once opened” above:-)
Anita
Can I use blackberry or any other fruit pulp for the jam? In January, it off season so I cannot find fresh and my son really wants some. Thank you for responding
Camilla
If you can’t source fresh or frozen blackberries but want a Seedless jam you could try my Raspberry version which would also work with fresh or frozen raspberries.
Mary Moore
Just found your recipe, just made it, easy directions to follow, and turned out amazing. This one is a keeper! Thanks for sharing ❤️
Camilla
Awesome Mary, so glad you like the recipe! Hope you find some more of my jam recipes useful:-)
Andrew
Love the jam. Would this work with other berries too? (maybe elderberries?)
Camilla
Hi Andrew, you could adapt my Elderberry Jam recipe https://www.fabfood4all.co.uk/simple-elderberry-jam-with-step-by-step-video-tutorial/ and I also have a seedless Raspberry Jam https://www.fabfood4all.co.uk/easy-seedless-raspberry-jam/
Sarah-Louise
I’ve followed this recipe twice, the first time just a single jar, but the second time made 6 jars in one go (we’ve been very lucky this year with the number of blackberries near where I live). It scaled up wonderfully and the jam is utterly delicious. I’m planning to give a few as gifts and I’m sure they’ll go down very well!
Huge thank you for sharing such a great and easy to follow recipe. I had never attempted making jam before and so happy to have found your recipe!
Camilla
Aaw, thank you so much Louise, so happy to hear that you love the recipe and that it scaled up well:-)
Fay
Hi, I’m in the UK and I have a question re sealing of pots once filled with the jam… I am re-using some Bonne Maman jars and lids that have popup centres. Two of my four pots have sealed ok but two of them, I can still pop the centre of the lid.. does this mean that they won’t keep as well? How important is it with jam that they are sealed? Many thanks in advance.
Camilla
Hi Fay, if the jars don’t seal then pop them in the fridge and use up first. I had a batch of plum & apple jam in new jars that didn’t seal once and I gave most of it away and explained to the recipients to use it up fairly quickly.
Fay
Thank you so much, you’ve put my mind at rest! Your recipe was so easy and quick to do and the jam is delicious! I shall do as you suggest with my unsealed jars. Thanks again. 🙂
Camilla
A pleasure Fay:-)
Wendy
I have never made jam before so thought I would have a go. Can you use bottled lemon concentrate instead of fresh lemon?
Camilla
Hi Wendy, I’ve not tried it myself but having Googled, apparently you can.
Graham
Outrageously delicious Jam! We were really lucky and foraged a whopping 3kg of the fattest juiciest blackberries, leaving plenty for others. Scaled up the recipe and made 10 jars… it did take longer to boil before reaching a set as others have suggested, but once set it is soft and glossy. The flavour is out of this world! Thanks so much for the recipe, it’s inspired me to make other preserves.
Camilla
Oh that’s wonderful Graham, thank you so much. So glad to have inspired you, enjoy the rest of your jars:-)
Anna
I couldn’t get mine to thicken. Any suggestions?
Camilla
I made this yesterday and my blackberries were shop bought and far juicier than the ones I’d foraged for last year so the boiling lasted longer than 2 minutes in order to get a crinkle on the chilled plate. It ended up more like 4 – 5 minutes. If you jam is runny to the extent of being pourable then pop it back in the pan and bring to another rolling boil for another minute at a time and keep testing on chilled plates until set is reached.
Laurette
I followed your recipe and are happy with the results. It is delicious.
Camilla
So glad to hear that Laurette, it is a lovely jam:-)
Amber Putman
I just love the simplicity of this recipe.
I foraged over 1.5lbs of blackberries, and made 3 batches.
The flavour of the berry’s comes through, A perfect balance of sweetness and flavour.
The whole family loves it.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Camilla
Thank you so much Amber, what a fabulous haul you got unlike mine. It does have a wonderful flavour doesn’t it:-)
Karen
Great recipe and so easy, thank you
Camilla
Thank you so much Karen, so glad you like it:-)
Rebecca - Glutarama
My daughter hates seeds or ‘bits’ I think she’ll love this…which means she can actually eat the berries she and her brother forage for.
Camilla
Excellent Rebecca, that’s just like my hubby which is why I made this seedless jam because no-one should miss out on the taste of blackberries:-)
Sue
Excellent recipe, thank you so much!
Camilla
Thank you Sue, so glad you like it:-)
Chloe
I am totally adverse to seeds in my jam so I am all over this recipe!
Camilla
Excellent Chloe, you and my husband have a lot in common:-)