Bramble jelly sets when the berries bring enough pectin and acid, and it stays clear when the juice drips through a jelly bag on its own. The tested recipe below needs no added pectin or lemon, just the right berries, a fixed ratio of sugar to juice and a proper boil to setting point.

Makes
about 4 or 5 jars of about 250 ml
Keeps
about a year unopened in a cool, dark place if water-bathed (step 13); once opened, in the fridge for a few weeks to a month or two
Ready to eat
once cool and set
In season
late summer into autumn

Ingredients

  • about 2.7 litres (by volume) brambles, roughly ¼ firm ripe and ¾ fully ripe
  • 175 ml water
  • 950 ml bramble juice (strained from the berries above)
  • 600 g granulated sugar

Measure the juice after straining; for a different amount, use 3 parts sugar to 4 parts juice by volume, which is about 630 g of sugar per litre of juice.

Method

  1. Sterilise the jars: a hot dishwasher cycle, 10 minutes in boiling water (add 1 minute for every 300 m of height above the first 300 m), or the oven at 160°C (gas mark 3) for 10 minutes. Check the jar maker's instructions; some (Kilner, for example) advise against the oven for their jars. Let them dry fully and have new lids ready (see the sterilising guide).
  2. Sort and wash the brambles, and pull off any stalks and leaves.
  3. Crush the berries in a large pan and add the water.
  4. Cover and bring to the boil on a high heat, stirring now and then so the fruit doesn't scorch.
  5. Turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes, until the fruit is soft.
  6. Pour the pulp into a damp jelly bag (or a double layer of damp muslin) hung over a bowl on a stand or in a colander.
  7. Leave it to drip. Don't press or squeeze the bag, or the jelly will be cloudy.
  8. Measure 950 ml of juice into a clean pan, add the sugar and stir well.
  9. Boil hard on a high heat until it reaches setting point, about 104.5°C (see the setting point guide).
  10. Take the pan off the heat and skim off the foam quickly.
  11. Pour the jelly straight into the hot sterilised jars, leaving about 5 mm of space at the top.
  12. Wipe the rims and put the new lids on at once, while the jelly is hot, so a vacuum seal forms.
  13. For jars you plan to keep for months, stand the lidded jars on a rack in a deep pan, cover with hot water by about 2.5 cm, bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes (10 minutes above about 300 m). That time assumes jars sterilised by boiling for 10 minutes; if you used the dishwasher or oven, boil the filled jars for 10 minutes instead.
Bramble pulp dripping through a jelly bag into a glass bowl below, a colander of drained pulp beside it
Let the juice drip through on its own. Squeezing or pressing the bag makes cloudy jelly.

Why the berry mix matters

Blackberries don't all behave the same in the pan. Firm berries that are only just ripe, and still a little sour, have enough natural pectin and acid to set with nothing but sugar. Fully ripe ones are low in acid, pectin or both. Pectin quality is highest in fruit that is just ripe, and acid is higher in fruit that isn't fully ripe, so the recipe asks for about a quarter firm ripe berries and three quarters fully ripe ones. The ripe berries give flavour and colour; the firmer ones carry the set.

Juice, sugar and batch size

Sugar is the preservative in jelly. It stops microorganisms growing, adds flavour and helps the gel form. Never cut the sugar in a jelly recipe: with less sugar you get syrup rather than jelly, and it won't keep as well. Older family recipes often use more sugar than this one. You can go up to equal parts sugar and juice by volume, but never below 3 parts sugar to 4 of juice.

JuiceGranulated sugarNotes
500 ml315 gHalf batch
950 ml600 gThe recipe above, about 4 or 5 jars of 250 ml
1.4 litres885 gLarger batch

Boil no more than about 1.4 to 1.9 litres of juice at a time. If you have more, make two batches.

Straining and filling

Damp the jelly bag or muslin first so it doesn't soak up juice. Skim the foam off quickly once the jelly comes off the heat, then fill the jars straight away before it starts to set in the pan.

Testing for a set

A thermometer is the most dependable test. Jelly without added pectin sets at about 104.5°C at sea level, which is about 4.5°C above the temperature water boils at. Setting point drops by about 1°C for every 300 m of height, so in a hill cottage check what temperature water boils at in your kitchen and add 4.5°C to it.

TestHow to do itSet when
TemperatureThermometer in the boiling jellyIt reaches about 104.5°C (lower at height)
WrinkleA spoonful on a fridge-cold plate, left for a minute, then pushed with a fingerThe surface wrinkles
SheetLift a metal spoon of jelly and let it run off the sideTwo drops run together and fall off in a sheet

Take the pan off the heat while you do the plate test so the jelly doesn't overcook. The setting point guide covers all three tests in more detail.

Sealing the jars

For a year's keeping, give the jars the boiling-water bath in step 13; the keeping time for this recipe assumes it. If you skip it, the jars rely on the hot-fill seal alone and have no tested keeping time, so keep them in the fridge and eat them soon. Lids should always be new, never reused; the jars guide helps you choose jars and lids that suit jelly.

Brambles from the garden or the hedge

Garden blackberries crop from mid-summer to early autumn. 'Loch Ness', a Scottish-bred variety, fruits from mid-August until the first frosts, so an early frost cuts the season short. Pick berries when they are ripe, because they won't ripen any further once picked. The blackberry growing guide covers varieties and care, and the September guide has what else is ready at the same time.

Wild brambles can be picked through late summer into autumn. Look in woods, hedgerows and scrubland. Some practical points for picking:

  • Choose bushes away from roads, where the fruit can be polluted.
  • Wear long sleeves and trousers against the thorns.
  • Pick plump, purplish-black berries. Small red or green ones aren't ripe.
  • Only pick if you are completely sure what the plant is.
  • Take no more than you'll use, and leave plenty for birds, badgers, foxes, mice and squirrels.

If the berries come in faster than you can make jelly, the raspberry and blackberry glut guide has other ways to use them. Frozen berries are best used within about 3 months for quality, though they stay safe for longer.

Storing bramble jelly

Water-bathed jars keep for about a year in a cool, dark, dry place. Once a jar is open, keep it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks to a month or two. Throw out any jelly with mould on it or a fermented, yeasty or alcohol smell. The preserve storage guide has more detail.

Common questions

Can I add apple to bramble jelly?

Tart apples and crab apples are high in pectin and acid, and they are used to help other hedgerow jellies set. Adding them changes the balance of juice, pectin and acid that the sugar ratio was worked out for, so follow a tested bramble and apple recipe rather than adding apple to this one. There is more on combining fruit in mixing fruit in preserves.

Should I add lemon juice?

Not to this recipe. Lemon juice is useful for rescuing a jelly that hasn't set (see below).

My bramble jelly hasn't set. What can I do?

You can remake it. For each 950 ml of soft jelly, add 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of bottled lemon juice, bring it to the boil and boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Test for a set, skim, then fill hot sterilised jars, put new lids on and give them the water bath in step 13 if they're for keeping. Never remake jelly that has mould on it; throw it out.

Why is my jelly cloudy?

Pressing or squeezing the jelly bag pushes fruit pulp into the juice and clouds it. Let the bag drip on its own.

Sources

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