Jamming blackberries

The Toad had a bad day, and I had a bad day because the Toad had a bad day. All in a day's work. Such is life? I went off to spend some money hoping it would make me feel better. I got myself a new Wilton icing colours kit, some pretty pastel sugar flowers, some lovely croissants and a packet of blackberries. Well, the blackberries weren't really for me, but as a pick-me-up for Toad in form of jam.

Now, I've never had blackberry jam myself until today. It was good! It tastes purple and plummy and curranty if you know what I mean.

Blackberries are expensive. So I tried this recipe out with only a little bit of fruit. Here's what I did.

Blackberry Jam

180g blackberries, at room temperature

40g castor sugar

Juice from half a lemon

1. Place the fruit in a large bowl together with sugar.
2. Mash fruit and sugar together gently with a fork. Do not break fruit down completely.
3. Place fruit and sugar mixture into a heavy-based saucepan.
4. Place saucepan on medium heat.
5. As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, turn the heat down low.
6. Add lemon juice and mix it through.
7. Skim the foam that will form on the surface every few minutes. Keep doing this until no more foam appears.
8. The liquid will slowly but surely evaporate. When you see that the mixture is still a little moist, take it off the heat. The jam will thicken as it cools.
9. Put a clean glass bottle and cap into the oven at 160 Celsius for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool awhile.
10. Pour jam into the bottle and seal immediately.

Now all I have to do is wait for Toad to eat it before I can really tell you how good it is!