I’m starting to wonder if I should’ve named this blog “breezy canned what now”! But I love preserving! And I feel no shame about it! So if you do too, hunker down and check this out.
Our yard is flanked by blackberry bushes, and as out of control as they can get, we do appreciate their presence. The first half of summer is spent watching, as the little green berries slowly make their appearance. Then more watching, with patience, as they change to a rich dark purple.
My fellas specialty is toast with peanut butter, and a handful of fresh berries smashed on top. It’s not gourmet or glamorous but it is delicious. Last year I wanted to hang onto the deliciousness that is a blackberry so of course I made jam. But me being me didn’t want to just make blackberry jam. I wanted something exciting. So after some stumbling around the interweb I decided on blackberry basil. I had no idea what to expect out of that combo but boy was I not disappointed! It. Was. Incredible. Hands down my favorite jam ever!
So this year I made sure to plant lots of basil in the garden and planned to take advantage of my new favorite flavor mix. The blackberries have been plentiful and I’ve already made my share of muffins (adding home grown zucchini to them!) and such. I also put together a blackberry basil soda using my homemade ginger bug which has been amazing! But I wanted to have lots of basil for jam so I left it to grow and get plentiful.
While on a visit down at Bayview State park in Washington my mom collected a ton of blackberries, froze them and brought them home. I agreed to help her use them up and left my own berries for other purposes. I somehow managed to find the scrap of paper I had jotted down last years recipe on and made some tweaks that I thought would make it better. So here’s the deets on making blackberry basil jam. If you are going to make any jam this year this should be the one! And there’s no better time then now! Hurry before the season is over!
Blackberry Basil Jam
Supplies
- water bath canner
- canning jars
- canning lids and rings
- jar lifter and canning funnel
- 4 cup measuring cup
- food processor
- large pot
- large spoon/ladle
- towels and dish clothes
Ingredients
- 9 C fresh blackberries
- 3 C fresh basil leaves (loosely packed)
- 1/2 C lime juice (approx. 3 limes)
- 4 1/2 C white sugar
- 1 packet pectin
Add your blackberries to a large pot on medium heat. As the berries begin to cook mash them up using your spoon.
While the berries cook puree basil and lime juice in a food processor. Add to blackberry mash.
Bring to a boil and stir in sugar until dissolved. Then stir in the packet of pectin.
Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil for 1 minute. The berry mash should start to thicken.
(side note: last year I over cooked the berry mash and broke the pectin which left me with more of a syrup then a jam. It was still delicious! But not very thick. Don’t over do it with the boiling to prevent this from happening. In fact, this year it was still quite runny when I put it in the jars but it thickened up over night)
Fill sterilized jars leaving a 1/4″ to 1/2″ head space. Remember to wipe the lip of the jar to ensure a proper seal will form.
Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Adjust your process time for your elevation.
Once processed leave the jars somewhere, undisturbed for 24 hours to cool and set. You will know the jars sealed if the lids are sucked down and don’t pop up and down when pressed with your finger. Any that did not seal should be refrigerated.
Makes approximately 10, 250 ml jars.
And voila! Blackberry basil jam! I can assure you that there will never be a summer that passes where I don’t make a batch of this! Imagine this, a bunch of this jam smeared onto a slice of toasted homemade sourdough! A delicious week day breakfast for sure! Now grab yourself a bucket, hit up your local blackberry bush and make yourself some jam! I hope I’ve inspired you to try something with blackberries that you haven’t tried and experience flavors you haven’t tasted! Enjoy! x