BLACKBERRY AND APPLE JELLY

3 lb blackberries

3lb cooking apples

3 pints water

sugar

Wash the apples and chop roughly then rinse the blackberries and put them in to a large maslin pan with the apples and 3 pints of water

Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is tender, check that the fruit is pulped .

Line a large bowl with a scalded jelly bag then pour in the fruit pulp.

Tie the top of the jelly bag with string and suspend over the bowl. I use an old camera tripod for this but a stool will do. Leave to strain over night.

Discard the pulp in the bag then measure the liquid in to a large jam pan and add 1il of sugar for each pint of liquid.

Heat the liquid but do not boil .once the liquid is warm add the sugar and bring to the boil stirring constantly until the sugar has all dissolved.

Boil until setting point is reached then skim if necessary and bottle quickly in sterile jars.

I sterilise jam jars by putting them on a tray in to a cold oven then bringing the temperature up to 100oC. The lids I places on a metal tray and pour on boiling water , leave for five minutes them dry on clean kitchen paper.

The hot jam and the hat jars will, when the lids are tightened cool and cause a vacuum to form thus preserving the jam far more effectively than wax disks and cellophane toppers.