[gavinjconway]

Hi avid jam makers.. My question is as follows:  Unlike raspberries blackberries come off the plant with the inner core still attached to the fruit so how do I remove the inner core of the blackberries when making jam?  I thought of sieving them out and mushing the pulp through a coarse'ish sieve to remove the seeds and cores which will make a smooth seedless jam but I would also like the seeds in the jam if possible!!

Help please.. thanks GJC

[allotmentann]

  I have never removed anything from a blackberry before cooking or preserving. I have never noticed any lumpy bits - other than seeds

[mumofstig]

same here, pull the berry off its stalk rinse out any pillars/grubs and put in jam pot 

[Madame Cholet]

same here, pull the berry off its stalk rinse out any pillars/grubs and put in jam pot 

me too it seams to cook down to a sqidgy texture.

[hamstergbert]

Prefer to wash them and leave them spread out on a tray overnight  or at least for a few hours - easier to pick off the wrigglies!  I concentrate on jellies and almost never make jam though, so the jelly bag sorts out the 'inners' for me.   Back in the day, my mum used to make bramble jam and we certainly never noticed any problem.

[gavinjconway]

Thanks peeps... job now going into progress... Blackberry, Rasps and red currant jam will be bottled tonight!!

[wighty]

Just don't invite my sister to tea, somehow all wrigglies etc always found their way into her portion of whatever we were eating!  I used to feel really jealous.

[Madame Cholet]

Just don't invite my sister to tea, somehow all wrigglies etc always found their way into her portion of whatever we were eating!  I used to feel really jealous.

Did you put them there wighty

[gavinjconway]

  

[cheshirecheese]

Unlike raspberries blackberries come off the plant with the inner core still attached to the fruit so how do I remove the inner core of the blackberries when making jam? 

The ones I pick off the hedgerows round here come off without the core as long as they're ripe - are you picking them early or is it because they're cultivated plants?

[shokkyy]

Just don't make the mistake I made and try to take a shortcut by not cooking the blackberries down properly before boiling up the jam. Not unless you like spitting out bullet hard blackberries, anyway.

[gavinjconway]

Unlike raspberries blackberries come off the plant with the inner core still attached to the fruit so how do I remove the inner core of the blackberries when making jam? 

The ones I pick off the hedgerows round here come off without the core as long as they're ripe - are you picking them early or is it because they're cultivated plants?

I cant get them off like rasps... they all leave the inner core.. cultivated or wild all the same. Anyway my jam is delicious - I wooden spoon sieved it to get the bulk through the sieve but not the seeds - the cores seemed to cook away and became part of the jam!!

[sunshineband]

Just don't invite my sister to tea, somehow all wrigglies etc always found their way into her portion of whatever we were eating!  I used to feel really jealous.

She must have had an eagle-eye, wighty, 'cos any in mine are always dyed purple like the jam  

And gavin, the core of blackberries is quite different to that of raspberries, so don't worry about it in the jam ... or make jelly then there are no pips either