I’ve been Jamming: A Tale of Picking Wild Georgia Blackberries

The first time I made jam was over 25 years ago. I really can’t believe it when I think of it that way. My oldest daughter will be 31 in a couple of months and she was a small child the first time I made jam.

We lived in Georgia at the time. All along the ditches wild blackberries grew. The blackberries are ripe in July. I can remember walking along those hot, dry and dusty red clay roads picking berries like it was yesterday.

I picked berries for hours. My daughter either sitting in the shade of my car as I reached down for another hand full of juicy berries or trailing along beside me taking a taste of a plump purple berry. Our fingers were stained dark purple for days afterward.

That was the first time I made blackberry jam. I learned a few things that year. Like removing most of the berry pulp to get rid of some of the seeds. That first batch was packed full of seeds but we crunched through it, savoring each bite of that homemade blackberry jam.

Fresh blackberry jam is really one of the best flavors of jam to eat in my opinion. Or maybe it’s just that I don’t live in Georgia anymore and haven’t made blackberry jam in a long time. So the memory tastes just a bit sweeter then the jam.

My five gallon bucket was only about half way full. I still had a long time to go before I was done picking blackberries because I planned to make twice the amount of jam I had made the year before when a friend of ours stopped his car next to me and asked if my husband knew I was picking berries.

I am sure I looked at him strangely, thinking to myself why would my husband care if I was picking berries on a Saturday morning.

He shook his head at me in disbelief when I told him of course my husband knew I was picking berries this morning.

 Well he says to me, I wouldn’t let my pregnant wife pick berries.

Some other person would have thought to themselves that this guy is nuts and let him drive off and go back to picking berries but because this person had been a friend of the family for years and because I am pretty big mouthed I asked him before he could drive away shaking his head in disbelief at my husbands audacity or stupidity (I wasn’t sure which at that moment) , why wouldn’t he let his pregnant wife pick berries?

The answer he gave me was one that I would never have seen coming at that time in my life. I know better now.

“Well Arlene,” he says to me in his Georgia drawl, ” around here we take a 45 and a stick when we go berry picking.”

“Why would you do that?” I ask him.

“For the rattle snakes that like to hide down underneath those berry bushes just waiting to make a meal out of the birds that come to eat the berries.”

(I just thought about the little old woman who ate a spider as I reread that sentence lol)

I watched the trail of dust his car made as he traveled down that dirt road on his way home and loaded my half full bucket of blackberries into my car and went home. I have never picked another wild blackberry since.

We moved back to Florida not long after that. I did make a batch of wild plum jelly before we moved. But only after my husband picked them from a tree that grew off that same dirt road.

I didn’t walk into the tall grass and brambles to help him that’s for sure.

Prepare your jars before starting. And use caution as with any cooking adventure.

Wear protection on your hands while cutting up your jalapeno peppers!

Kitchen Timer

Canning Jars

Canning Lids

Canning pot

1. Measure sugar and cider vinegar and place into your jelly pot.
2. Finely chop peppers and measure. Add to pot with sugar.
3. I have an electric stove so make adjustments as all stoves are not created equally.
4. I start out on medium heat until the sugar  melts completely. Add margrine or butter. This helps with the foam that forms on the top of your jelly as it cooks. Believe me there is a huge difference in the amount of foam if you forget to add it to your pot.
5. Cut open your pouch of Certo and stand it up inside a coffee cup placed near the stove.
   Stir the pot every five minutes or so. Once your jelly ingredients/the sugar is melted you can turn the heat up to medium high. As with all cooking adventures do not walk away from your stove!
6. Stir your pot frequently to prevent scorching.
7. Bring to a roiling boil. A roiling boil is one that can not be stirred down. You will know it when you see it. While stirring there will be lots of bubbles and they will not go away while you are stirring.The contents of your pot will continue to boil as you stir.
8. Add the contents of your liquid pectin pouch.
9. Bring to another roiling boil. Once the jelly starts to boil again start your timer for 1 minute. Or watch your clock. You must cook the jelly for one entire minute. If your off  by any amount of time you may not get a good set to your jelly.
10. Remove pot from the stove and carefully skim foam off the top of the jelly.  Fill jars and process in a hot water bath!

 

 

Looking for more homemade jam and jelly recipes like this Jalapeno Jelly recipe? Check out my canning recipe page for all the canning recipes I’ve shared.