[Kleftiwallah]

Just knocking out 9 lbs of bramble jam and tried something different.  I don't like the woody bramble centres in jam and when making jelly you seem to throw away so much good 'stuff' so I softened up the brambles as per the recipe and then pushed them through a fine sieve greatly increasing the amount of 'stuff'.

While pushing away I gets to thinking,  the cassis should be ready for the removal of the blackcurrants.  .  . posponed pushing until the blackcurrants had let go most of the gin and into the jam they went.  Just listening to the jar tops popping closed.

Cheers,   Tony.

[sarajane]

oooooh.  I bet thats good on some scones (or even straight off the spoon)

[Mrs Bee]

Now that is a clever idea and I would think that the fact that blackcurrants are high in pectin will give you a good set as well as an alchoholic buzz.

Would the alchohol kill off some of the pectin I wonder.

[Kleftiwallah]

I'm quietly confident I have a good set.  The jars are outside cooling.  I'll 'break one open' tomorrow and let you know.

I think the 'rolling boil' has driven off the alcohol Mrs Ball.
Cheers,   Tony.

[cheshirecheese]

That sounds absolutely delicious, Tony!    I added a good teaspoon of Amaretto to each jar of my latest batch of Plum & Almond Chutney as I was potting up, and it really does lift it to another dimension.

[Mrs Bee]

I'm quietly confident I have a good set.  The jars are outside cooling.  I'll 'break one open' tomorrow and let you know.

I think the 'rolling boil' has driven off the alcohol Mrs Ball.
Cheers,   Tony.

Ah but you would have the flavour of the gin tho'.

[Mrs Bee]

That sounds absolutely delicious, Tony!    I added a good teaspoon of Amaretto to each jar of my latest batch of Plum & Almond Chutney as I was potting up, and it really does lift it to another dimension.

Did you really mean chutney and not jam Cheshire?

You know I am up for trying anything and I really rate your recipes very highly indeed but in chutney.........

[Kleftiwallah]

Well, the jam is set (but only just) and pressing the flesh through a sieve has left the jam with a slightly rough texture when eaten 'neat' but is undecectable on bread. 

I shall by using this method again when I want seedless jam and don't want to waste carefully gathered brambles just to chuck  most of them on the compost heap if I'm making jelly.

Thanks to you all for your comments.  Cheers, Tony.

[Maryann]

Tony - I recently discover that my very expensive but totally  under-used potato ricer worked really well when processing apples. It kept back skins and seeds and processed the apples into a soft puree in seconds. I am going to try it out on blackberries next and hope it works as well as the apples as I hate seeds/pips.
Also re: alcohol in jam. Read that a small drop of port poured into jam pan after setting point has been reached and just before potting up makes a lovely addition to Plummy type jams.
Not tried it yet - will that effect the set do you think? Plums have high pectin content so might be ok.

[cheshirecheese]

Did you really mean chutney and not jam Cheshire?
You know I am up for trying anything and I really rate your recipes very highly indeed but in chutney.........

Yes, I really did mean chutney Mrs B!!  Because the chutney contains flaked almonds I thought the Amaretto might be a nice addition, and it really does work well.  

... And thank you kindly for the compliment by the way - high praise indeed! 

[Mrs Bee]

I don't think i would be likely to try that one Cheshire. The only place I put Amaretto is in my coffee.

I did come across a plum jam recipe today which was plum and apple but it had salt in it.
The recipe was on the box of my new jam pan ( treated myself to a second one so I can have one simmering chutney and the other for doing the jam) and the recipes were on the box.

First reaction was  second was OK that sounds a bit Heston must give it a try.

Tony your jam sounds lovely, and what a great way to use up the blackcurrants.


Maryann..... the alchohol will not affect the setting quality of the jam.

You might like to try putting the alchohol straight into your jars before filling them with jam as you will get a stonger flavour from the alchohol. I use 2 tsps to each jar.


Port is a lovely addition to plum jam and damson and is also very good in redcurrant jelly

[Maryann]

Mrs Ball - thanks so much for the alcohol tip - I will be definitely giving that a go 
I have literally just made some Damson & apple jam as only had 500g of damsons and wanted them to go a bit further so for the first time ever I added same amount of apples. Result was 4 large jars of beautiful rich red jam which does taste really good.

However....it does taste a wee bit apple-y, which you would expect but the damson flavour comes through after the initial apple hit. In future I would only add half the amount of apples if I had to use them at all. Is it just down here in Kent or is there a shortage of damsons this year? These ones were not cheap at all but hubby bought them for me as a treat thinking I could make some of my favourite jam with them - but 500g not really enough.

Sorry to trample on your Cassis Jam thread 

[Kleftiwallah]

Just waiting for the sun to come peeping through before going for more brambles.  Just found a recipe for bramble and rhubarb jam.

Cheers,   Tony.

[cheshirecheese]

However....it does taste a wee bit apple-y, which you would expect but the damson flavour comes through after the initial apple hit.

As you've only just made it, you may find that the damson flavour develops as it matures ... 

[cheshirecheese]

I don't think i would be likely to try that one Cheshire. The only place I put Amaretto is in my coffee.

Ah, Mrs B, you don't know what you're missing!  Just think of the Amaretto as posh almond essence - and there's only 1tsp per 8oz jar so it's quite subtle ... it just complements the flavour of the plums and almonds in the chutney.  We had it with a sugar baked gammon roast last night, and it went down a treat!