When Life Gives you Blackberries, Make Blackberry Jam - Recipe Included

Our good friends the Traftons have some very enterprising children. Apparently wild blackberries grow like weeds around their house in Washington so Sarah, Rachel and Jasper (and their dad, of course) pick the berries and sell them to raise funds for something big. This year, they are raising money to fund a trip to a hotel/waterpark in Washington. Since they were coming to San Diego, I bought $5 worth of blackberries and they were lovingly hand delivered to our house.

The kids suggested that I make their moms AMAZING blackberry banana bread but I didn't have any bananas on hand. Our friend Hoa suggested I make blackberry and fontina grilled cheese sandwiches. I wanted to make blackberry turnovers but could not find pastry sheets for the life of me. So what did I make? Spiced wild blackberry jam. This was my first time making jam and it turned out great! Here is the recipe.

Spiced Wild Blackberry Jam

Ingredients

4 cups of blackberries

1 cup of white sugar

2 tablespoons of corn starch

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of ground all spice

1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice

Jars to store your jam in

Directions

Mash blackberries in a saucepan with a potato masher (or in my case, your measuring cup). 

Stir in sugar until juices form; place about 1 tablespoon blackberry juice in a small bowl and stir in cornstarch. 

Pour cornstarch mixture into saucepan.

Bring berries to a boil, stirring often, until jam is thickened, about 15 minutes. 

Stir in cinnamon and allspice. 

Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

Transfer jam to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until chilled. 

Stir in lemon juice.

Transfer jam into jars, throw a label on the jars and give away as gifts...because there is no way you can consume all that jam.

[Mashed berries. Looks like I just murdered someone in the saucepan.]

[Reserve 1 tablespoon of berry juice.]

[Add 2 tablespoons of corns starch.]

[Combine the juice and corn starch. Don't be like me and use such a small bowl.]

[The cinnamon and all spice take this jam to the next level.]

[After your jam has cooled and thickened, it should coat a spatula.]

[The final product! I was going to make it all cute and add fabric to the tops but this weekend was crazy and I had no time.]

Originally posted on AllRecipes