Every year we spend a few weeks in the countryside in our family house in France, and there’s always one major task at hand: blackberry picking! This year was a particularly good blackberry year, so we all got to work (kids included) and I was able to make a few batches of jam and compote. Especially the compote has proven to be a grand success — we love to eat it with thick yoghurt (quark) as a dessert or spooned over oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast. Here’s the recipe — it’s really easy!
Make sure your jars and lids are clean (a hot program in the dishwasher will do), and keep them in the sink in hot water until you use them. Combine the blackberries and the sugar and leave to stand for 20 minutes or so until the juices start to come free. Add cinnamon and lemon juice, and put on a low fire and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, and let boil for about 5 minutes. Put the compote in clean jars and seal. Put jars upside down for about 10 minutes. Turn right side up again and leave to cool down. Done! Makes about 4 to 5 jars, that you can keep for a long time outside the fridge (but once open keep in the fridge). Enjoy!
xxx Esther
PS If you’re wondering what Pim has on his head — it’s a helmet my dad wears to protect his eyes when he’s using his sawing machine. Pim found it in the workshop and wore it the entire vacation!
Comments (5)
We took the kiddies blackberry picking at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath and we did quite well. We had blackberries for pudding and we made blackberry pancakes and blackberry smoothies for breakfast. Sometimes the simplest activities are the most enjoyable activities.
What a cute baby belly you have!!!
We also picked a lot of blackberries this summer. It’s so nice to be able to pick fruit in the summer. Gosh… I wish summer would last all year long. xx
O the joys are fruit picking! I have such happy childhood memories of collecting fruit. We’re off to pick figs at the weekend and make jam! I agree with Courtney, cute bump! x
Thank you! And let me know how the fig jam turns out — I always find it gets very stiff, whereas I have trouble getting my blackberry jam stiff enough… (There were no figs this year in France, they all froze because of the nasty spring! Sad!) xxx
[…] even at about 27 degrees C), and presto! Your own yoghurt. You can vary by adding vanilla, a bit of compote, etc. We love to eat our yoghurt with homemade granola for […]