Wild Blackberry Jam!

I harvested wild blackberries on Wednesday- 1.5 kilo! from the town of Dreieich. In the middle ages, blackberry bushes were planted in a circle around the town as a defense- sound familiar, Sleeping Beauty? and Thursday I made jars of Blackberry Jam. So yummy! Today, I harvested more from Grosskrotzenburg, maybe 2 kilos. Here is the basket with blackberries after picking them.

I'll make more jam with these and then at the end of the week, I will go pick more of them  to make a pie... and maybe ice cream, although I have no ice cream maker.

Blackberry Jam recipe (my first recipe in grams)
1.5 kilo Blackberries (1500 grams)
30g pectin mix
400g sugar, honey, agave

Sort and lightly wash the Blackberries and place them in a pot. Mix in the pectin completely and then the sugar. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the jam begins to set, maybe five minutes after the boil. Stir with a wooden spoon (I use the one Nic's grandmother used for making jam.)

Meanwhile, in another pot, bring water to a rapid boil for sterilizing the clean jars. Sterilize all utensils-  tongs, spoon or ladle (non-metal is best)

Step 1. sterilize jar.
Step 2. place on plate and fill with hot jam until 1/4 in. below the top of the jar.
Step 3. with a paper towel, wipe away any jam around the rim.
Step 4. Sterilize lid.
Step 5. Screw on lid tight and turn the jar upside down.
Step 6. Place upside down on a towel and allow to cool completely.

Repeat until all jars are filled. You do not need to boil the jars to seal them after filling (who knew?!) This took me an hour and 15 minutes to make. Then another 15 to clean up- not bad timing for 5 jars of home made blackberry jam.

By the way, in the states, Pomona's Univeral Pectin is the easiest to use ever, ever, ever, for making jams and jellies and because it uses calcium to set, you need very little sugar. Here I use some organic stuff that also has calcium in it.

 I went to the Farmer's Market in Frankfurt yesterday and bought basil for making pesto, 2 huge golden zucchinis for zucchini pancakes (recipe to come) and zucchini bread. Walnut bread, smoked schinken (like prosciutto, but German), carrots, green beans (for green beans and potatoes and to use in thai green papaya salad), butter lettuce, a bunch of scallions, and a big gorgeous eggplant. One of the stands is like the Santa Fe Farmer's Market- everything is homemade and home grown and there are little bits of everything- pickles, jam, wild harvested mushrooms, wurst, bread, vegetables, fruits, etc. and I heard the woman say something to the man in english and I heard the man answer back- and he is from the states. He has been here since 1971 minus two years- he said there were no jobs for him after the war in the U.S. And he is at market each week. That was fun to speak english with him and hear the numbers of the cost of what I bought in english numbers. 5,60 euro for the two huge zucchinis, 2 kg of plums, lettuce, and scallions. And I always get an herb lemonade from them- so delicious.

Here is one of the three sheep that live next to the cemetery where I picked the blackberries. They are so sweet. I cannot find out which breed they are, though I would love to have some one day. They were sheared not too long ago, but I never see a person around to ask if I can buy some wool. I still have not found a good source for wool, even though there are sheep around. So, I am spinning cotton and silk right now while I wait for my wool to arrive with my parents in September. They'll bring a suitcase each for me and nic and my massage table when they come. I filled my suitcase with wool, seeds, watercolors, knitting needles, fall shoes and a jacket. Typical.