Blackberries!!

I wait anxiously every year for the time to harvest blackberries. I make jelly every year and I always run out of jelly before the year is up. My friend Carrie called me last night and said she got a call from the people at Braker Berry Farms nearby that the blackberries were ready, and we could come out at 7:30 in the morning. So we went, we picked, and I had jelly by the end of the day. And lots and lots of blackberries left over, so I'll be baking too.
Blackberry Jelly:



I started with a bowl of about 4 lbs of berries. I used this old fashioned cone colander with a wooden pestle to get juice from the berries. I don't remember when I bought this, but it is the first time I have used it and it is awesome! I think about all the years that I have been making jelly and all the ways that I have juiced the berries: using cheesecloth, a potato masher, some other kind of hand cranked food mill that was awkward. This is far and away the easiest way to do this! This is no longer my least favorite step in the process. I see these in flea markets all the time.

You need :
3 3/4 cups juice from the berries
7 1/2 cups sugar
3 tlbsp lemon juice (juice from one lemon)
2 3oz packets of liquid pectin



Mix the blackberry juice, the sugar and the lemon juice together in a saucepan. You need to get the jars ready in the meantime.
Sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water. The recipe said I would need 7 8oz jars. So I prepared 8 jars, just in case. Turns out I actually needed 9 jars. I scrambled at the end to find one more jar to pour the last of the jelly into.
Cook the berry mixture in a pan with 1/2 tblsp of butter to prevent foaming. Cook until the mixture fully boils. Add two packets of pectin and boil a minute more.
Pour into prepared jars and place the lids on top. Just need to wait for them to seal. I love that tinny popping sound when the lids are sucked on!