Wild Blackberry Preserves

I suppose you may be wondering why I haven't posted in a while. I have been a bit busy with a number of things.

On Friday we went out and collected blackberries (mostly Rubus allegheniensis, a small amount of Rubus flagellaris) and a few incidental handsful of raspberries (Rubus idaeus) and flowering raspberries (Rubus odoratus).

Our haul for the day

My brother also collected Laetiporus sulphureus (chicken of the woods), which he had seen emerge earlier this week and watching for ideal collection time. So that big orange thing is a delicious edible wild shelf mushroom.

Friday night, naturally, we feasted; we ate the Laetiporus sulphureus sauteed in butter and white wine, along with fresh corn (bought from the back of a farm truck, the freshest you can get without growing it yourself) and a bean salad made with the green and yellow wax beans from my father's garden. Then, of course, blackberries for desert.

But of course, that's about 12-13L in that photo, so quite a lot of blackberries. There were, therefore, enough for me to do what I really wanted: canning.

I decided to make wild blackberry jelly and wild blackberry jam. I took about 6.5L of the fruit and started by heating it up, and using a potato masher to squish the fruit:

Blackberries heating to extract juice

 Then I mashed the fruit in a sieve to extract the juice. I don't care if my jelly is cloudy/opaque, I just don't want the seeds in it.

Extracting the juice from the fruit

Extracted blackberry juice

Of course, the problem with making jelly is that you get this perfectly good seed and pulp mixture that is often discarded. I decided that I wouldn't do that; instead, I used it to make jam.

Leftover pulp & seeds

I got about 7 cups of juice from the extraction process. I cooked the juice with the sugar, lemon juice, and pectin:

Cooking the jelly

Then I put the stuff in the sterilized jars and canned it for the requisite 10 minutes in the hot water canner:

Homemade canning rack in hot water bath

Side note: I love this home canning rack. I have actually been puzzled for a long time about most canning racks, because most government (ie research-based) sources recommend that the top of jars in the hot water bath be covered by at least 1 inch of water, but the standard canning rack you can buy will be suspended too high (especially for 1/2L or 1L jars), where the top of the jar will actually extend above the rim of the canner. So I don't understand how these racks can be advertized for pickling, because they don't fit! So I got a cooling rack and asked my father to rig something up; the wooden stand underneath keeps the jars about 2" above the bottom of the pot (reasonably elevated), and because it's a cooling rack, I can put whatever dimension of jar I like in there, rather than the wire frame canning racks which tend to only accommodate certain sizes of jars. There's plenty of clearance for me to cover the jars suitably. Long story short, I do not generally recommend hanging canning racks unless the only preserves you ever make are in 250mL jars or smaller. And even then, water will tend to boil out of the canner with enough headspace above the jar.

I then took the leftover pulp and revitalized it by replacing the removed juice with fruit juice (I had pomegranate & blueberry on hand so that's what I used), then adding sugar, lemon, and pectin. I cooked the lot as with the jelly, and canned the same way.

The result? 19 jars of wild blackberry jelly, and 17 jars of wild blackberry jam (36 jars total) with a large quantity of leftover jam that I turned into fridge jam which has, hilariously, mostly disappeared already even though it has only been ready for about 12 hours. It would appear that it is popular.

A few of my jars of jam and jelly

My recipes are pretty simple. I won't bother noting the sterilization and sanitation procedures here, if you use this recipe make sure to follow proper canning safety for your elevation etc. Ingredients-wise:

Wild Blackberry Jelly

-7 c. wild blackberry juice
-12 c. sugar
-2 c. lemon juice (NOTE: this is to taste -- add more lemon juice if your blackberry juice is sweeter; I like a good tart jelly, but if you like it sweeter you can also reduce the lemon or increase the sugar)
-3 pouches of pectin

Yield: 19 jars

Wild Blackberry Jam

-Leftover blackberry pulp from previous stage (approx 6 c.)
-10 c. sugar
-6 c. juice (dark fruit juice is good)
-3 c. lemon juice (as above, this is to taste)
-2 pouches of pectin

Yield: 21 jars (I ran out of jars, that's why I only have 17; total volume would've filled 21)

Native Edibles : Flowering Raspberry - Rubus odoratus - Ronce odorante

Blooming right now are a number of the cane berries, a variety of species in the very large and economically important genus Rubus, which is in the family Rosaceae (rose family).

This genus has distinctive fruits which are aggregates (clusters that are kind of stuck together) of drupelets (fruit that consist of a fleshy layer surrounding a pit, which is composed of a shell exterior and a seed inside). This genus includes blackberries, raspberries, other cane fruit, and the star of the day: Rubus odoratus (flowering raspberry).

Rubus odoratus inflorescence

Rubus odoratus is native to North America, but has spread beyond its native range. Originally found in Ontario & Quebec [1], and in the eastern US [2], it is now also found in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick [1]. This species' conservation status is secure in its Canadian range [1], but it is endangered in Illinois and threatened in Tennessee [2].

I have posted about this plant before, but not in much detail.

Rubus odoratus broader view

Rubus odoratus has been introduced to Europe and is considered naturalized to several areas there now [3,4]. It success in areas outside of its native range is potentially attributable to some weedy characteristics, notably its seed set, which is large and composed of small, easily dispersed seed, and its rapid vegetative growth [5]. It was likely brought to areas outside of its range for its ornamental value [3]: it has large, attractive maple-like leaves and a long flowering period [3,6].

I cannot find much information about its pollination, but one usually reliable source indicates that this plant is of special value to pollinators (especially native bees), attracting large numbers of native bees, bumble bees, and honey bees, and that it provides shelter or nesting sites to some species of native bee [6].

Rubus odoratus visited by a Bombus sp. worker - note how full her pollen baskets are! She must have returned to the colony shortly after I took this shot to deliver her haul

I am in disagreement with several sources that state that the fruit of this plant is flavourless [5] or insipid [6]. I find the fruit tasty, if dry and a bit fuzzy on the tongue.

Flowering Raspberry - Rubus Odoratus - Ronce Odorante

R. odoratus influorescence

The flowering raspberry (fr. ronce odorante), rubus odoratus, is one of my favourite edibles at the lake. Though it's called flowering raspberry, it doesn't have the same flavour or texture. It's produces a deep red, opaque, slightly velvety fruit. My brothers and I used to call them thumberries as children because the fruit fit onto our thumbs neatly, like little red caps. They're a bit dry in comparison with the wild raspberry, but delicious. The seeds are less present vs the wild raspberry, too, so there's an advantage in that sense. I love the chiffon-like appearance of the petals of this flower. Also, it's quite sticky and hairy on the back; as a kid I used to pluck the flower off the stem and stick it to my shirt, like a pin. Now, before you go thinking I must have been a sweet, pretty kid, I also did that with empty dragonfly nymph shells (actually, I liked those better because they were cool).

Today, I'm dreaming...