It’s almost time for the liquid purple gold of the summer: seedless blackberry jelly. In case you are wondering, it’s called preserves when most of the fruits are whole, it’s called jelly when it’s made from juice only (no fruit chunks), and jam is halfway in between these two. Because we only make seedless—and the process of de-seeding leaves only juice—this is jelly. I guess it’s redundant to call jelly seedless but I like to make sure people know. That’s the first question I’m asked when I try to share my yummy homemade jelly. So it’s a preemptive answer. Blackberries have a good natural pectin content, so no need to add any of that.

Before you get started, start your waterbath canner  it takes a while to get that much water boiling  and while you are waiting on your jelly you can sterilize your jars. Also go on and stick a plate in the freezer for the cold plate test (to check the thickness of your jelly.)

You can use a food mill to de-seed, but if you don’t want to invest, you don’t have to. This is the process we use. We put the blackberries in a blender, then pour the blended berries through a fine mesh strainer. Jamie discovered that our ladle matches the curve of the strainer pretty well. He stirs it around to help push all the liquid through. If you don’t have a blender you can just smash the berries through the strainer too. Be creative and use what you’ve got.

Next, transfer your liquid purple gold to a large stock pot. Keep track of how many cups you are adding, so you will know how much lemon and sugar to put in.

A general rule of thumb is 1 cup of liquid, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1-8 oz mason jar

For this batch I had fourteen cups of juice. So I started with two lemons—juice and zest—and seven cups of sugar. I ended up adding another cup to help make the mixture thick enough.

Next, bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Keep it on high until it starts expanding and you are afraid it’s going to boil over. Then stir it down and lower the heat, but keep it  at a low boil.

Now exercise patience and let it boil for at least 30 minutes before checking it. When it’s time to check, pull out your freezer plate, put a spoonful or two on the plate and return it to the freezer for 1-2 minutes. Pull out the plate and tilt it to watch how fast it runs. If it’s fast, clean the plate off (with water or your tongue) and return it to the freezer. Check it again in ten minutes. If you try this twice with no luck, add a cup of sugar.

This one isn’t ready yet.

There you go!

Now fill up your sterilized jars. And waterbath can those babies. For specifics on timing, check your local extension office. For my location, twelve minutes works really well and seals every time. If yours doesn’t seal, no worries just use it right away, perhaps for a jam cake. Ooo, jam cake. I know what I’m making for dessert tonight.

Seedless Blackberry Jelly

Ingredients:

14 cups blackberry juice

2 lemons—juice and zest

8 cups of sugar

Directions:

Bring all ingredients to a boil for 30 minutes. Using cold plate test, check thickness of jelly. If not thick enough boil another 10 min and try again. If test fails twice, add sugar 1 cup at a time until thick enough. Put in jars and can or refrigerate and use right away.