Kohlrabi is a crisp, flavorful vegetable that pairs well with just about anything. I like to serve mine as a simple side dish or add them to salads and sandwiches for extra crunch.

This pickled kohlrabi recipe is adapted from my mother’s famous dill pickle recipe. I’ve swapped out the cucumbers for kohlrabi, and added a few extra spices to give them an extra zing. They are the perfect balance of sweet and sour, and they get better with age! If you’re new to pickling, this is the perfect recipe to start with. So let’s get started!

Pickled Kohlrabi

What You’ll Need:
-1 pound kohlrabi, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
-1/2 cup white vinegar
-1/2 cup water
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 tablespoon sea salt
-1 teaspoon mustard seed
-1 teaspoon peppercorns
-3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
-2 sprigs fresh dill weed
Mason jar with lid (I like to use a pint-sized jar)

The pickling process removes the natural bitterness of the kohlrabi, leaving behind a crisp and slightly sweet flavor. To pickle kohlrabi, start by trimming the leaves and cutting the root into thin slices. Next, add the kohlrabi slices to a Mason jar or other airtight container. For the pickling juice, mix equal parts vinegar and water, and add enough to cover the kohlrabi slices. You can also add flavorings like garlic cloves, peppercorns, or dillweed. Seal the jar tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving.

Enjoy your pickled kohlrabi as an appetizer, side dish, or addition to salads and sandwiches.

There are not many outdoor culinary pursuits like picking your own wild blackberries. It’s great to get out into the fresh air, get some exercise and pick your own food for free from the hedgerows.

Take the kids along and get them involved in some supervised blackberry picking and jam making!

Here is our wonderful collection of homemade blackberry preserve recipes for you to make and enjoy.

The sweet taste of summertime is captured in these wild blackberry jam recipes. The perfect combination of tart and sweet, these spreads are sure to please your palate. Whether you’re looking for a traditional jam or something with a little more zing, these recipes have got you covered. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start picking those blackberries!

SEEDLESS BLACKBERRY JAM

6 lb. blackberries
6 1/2 lb. sugar
1 pint water

For this traditional blackberry jam choose some fruit which is under-ripe to mix with the ripe fruit; it will be a better colour and set more quickly.
Put the fruit and water into a pan or large jar, and simmer until the fruit is all pulped and the weight reduced a little. Pass the pulp through a sieve, only pressing it lightly.
Wash the preserving pan, dry it thoroughly, then grease it with a little butter. Pour in the juice, add the sugar, and when it has dissolved, boil until a little of the jam sets when tested on a cold plate. Pot up and seal.

Should only really ripe berries be available, they will have so little acid in them that it will be better to add 4 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice to the above quantities of fruit and sugar to secure a quicker, better setting.

BLACKBERRY AND APPLE JAM

6 lb. blackberries
3 lb. cooking apples
3/4 pint water
Sugar

Sort the blackberries over and put them into a pan with a teacupful of water. Place over gentle heat and cook until tender, then press through a sieve to remove the seeds.
After peeling and coring, slice the apples and place in a pan with 2 teacupfuls of water, and cook these also until tender enough to beat with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the blackberries then weigh or measure the mixture and add 3/4 lb. of sugar to each pound of pulp.
Dissolve the sugar, stir well together; bring to the boil; boil slowly until the jam sets when tested. Put into hot jars and cover down immediately.

BLACKBERRY AND DAMSON JAM

5 lb. blackberries
5 lb. sugar
3 lb. damsons

Pick over the fruit, and put the damsons and blackberries and 2 teacupfuls of water into a pan or large jar. Cover closely, stand in a very moderate oven until the damsons get loosened from the stones. Rub through a colander, place pulp in preserving pan, bring just to the boil before adding the sugar.
Let the sugar dissolve. Bring preserve to boiling point, and give it exactly 20 minutes’ boil. Test for setting; if ready, put into hot jars and cover at once.

BLACKBERRY AND MARROW JAM

4 lb. firm ripe blackberries
4 lb. marrow, weighed after peeling
3 lemons, juice, and rinds and seeding
6 lb. sugar
Water

Sort over the blackberries, which must not be too ripe. Peel the marrow, remove seeds, cut into pieces about an inch square, and put into preserving pan with about 1 pint of water. Place over gentle heat. Peel the lemons and put the thin rinds into a piece of muslin, drop into the preserving pan. Strain the juice from the lemons and add. Simmer all until blackberries and marrow are thoroughly pulped. Remove rinds and stir in the Sugar; let it dissolve, stir while coming to the boil, then
boil fast, testing a little on a cold plate from time to time for setting. Pot up into hot jars and cover at once, Store in a dry place.

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This really is the easiest, most basic recipe you’ll find anywhere. You don’t need any special equipment or ingredients, just a pan, some sugar, and fresh cherries. The key to success is to cook the jam slowly so that it reduces and thickens properly. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be rewarded with delicious cherry jam that will last for months.

CHERRY JAM

Delicious super easy homemade Cherry Jam. This simple, soft set Cherry Jam is made with just 3 ingredients and there’s no need to add pectin.

6 lb. Morello cherries
1 pint red currant juice
6 lb. sugar

How to make cherry jam: Stone the cherries over the preserving pan, so that no juice will be wasted. Add the red currant juice, bring to the boil, and boil for half an hour. Make the sugar hot by placing it on a dish in the oven and add it to the boiling fruit; dissolve, bring again to boiling point, boil for 20 minutes. Test for setting. Put into small hot jars and cover at once.
In order to secure the greatest amount of juice from the red currants, wash the fruit, shake clear of water, do not stalk. Put them in a jar and stand in a moderate oven or in a saucepan of hot water until all the juice is drawn out. Strain through a fine sieve. You will need 2 lb. red currants to make a pint of juice. You can use frozen cherries but fresh is always best!

Cherry Jam Variations worth trying – including Cherry Cheese!

MORELLO CHERRY PRESERVE

5 lb. morello cherries
5 lb. sugar
1 1/2 lb. red currants

This is slightly firmer than is usual with cherry jam, and is a lovely colour and flavour.

Cook the red currants in 1/4 pint of water for 20 to 30 minutes.
Strain through a double thickness of muslin. Stone the cherries over basin so as to secure all the juice, which should be mixed with the red currant juice in the preserving pan. Add the stoned cherries and cook until quite soft. Add sugar, and dissolve; then boil briskly for 10 minutes. Test; if ready, pot up and cover securely.

CHERRY CHEESE

Cooking cherries (stoned)
Sugar

Cherry Cheese is a traditional fudge like consistency for fruit preserving, it makes a wonderful condiment to meat dishes.

Stone the cherries over the preserving pan so that no juice may be wasted, then cook carefully until quite soft. Press through a sieve and weigh the pulp; return it to pan and boil quickly to a dry paste. Beat into it 1 1/2 teacupfuls of sugar to every pound of fruit. As soon as the sugar is dissolved, place pan again on the stove, and stir continuously until it is again a dry paste (smooth, and without stickiness). Press down into small hot jars, and cover immediately.

Yum!

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Spread the love! Traditional rhubarb jam recipes for all.

Firstly for the best flavours and care of your rhubarb plant – make sure you harvest or buy your rhubarb before Summer. AND before making rhubarb jam, make sure you cut the green leaves off (duh! Obviously – they are toxic!), cut the rhubarb into inch chunks and away you go. Here are some sensational Rhubarb Jam Recipes to make and enjoy – you won’t find these jam recipes on supermarket shelves!

RHUBARB AND ELDERFLOWER JAM

4 lb. rhubarb
3 lb. sugar
2 lemons or 1 level teaspoonful in powder form of citric acid or tartaric acid
3 sprays of elderflower tied in muslin
1 large cupful of water

You can make Rhubarb and Elderflower Jam once you’ve harvested ample elderflowers which are usually out in hedgerows the same time Ruubard should be harvested. Take freshly pulled rhubarb of good red/pink colour, wipe clean, cut into inch lengths, place in preserving pan with the water and the citric acid or lemon juice. Cook gently until your rhubarb is quite soft. Weigh, and to every pound weight add 12 oz. of sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Next attach to the handle of the preserving pan the muslin bag containing the freshly gathered blossoms of elderflower bring to the boil; boil for 20 minutes, stirring gently.
Test for setting, and if necessary boil it for another 5 minutes.
When ready, put immediately into hot jars and seal down immediately.

RHUBARB AND FIG JAM

3 lb. rhubarb
3/4 lb. dried figs
2 1/2 lb. sugar
1 teacupful water
1/2 teaspoonful ground ginger
1 level teaspoonful citric acid or tartaric acid, or 1 teacupful red currant juice

There is nothing quite like a Rhubarb and Fig jam combo! Wash, drain, and chop up the figs. Wipe the rhubarb vith a damp cloth and cut into small pieces. Put all into preserving pan, add the acid (dissolved in a little water), also the cupful of water and the ginger. ‘Simmer steadily, stirring frequently until the contents are cooked and some of the moisture evaporated.
Add the sugar, stir until dissolved, then bring again to the boil. Boil quickly for 20 minutes before testing. If ready, pot up and cover at once.

RHUBARB GINGER JAM

6 lb. rhubarb
2 level teaspoonfuls ground ginger
5 lb. sugar
juice of 2 lemons

For a little zing and punch try making Rhubarb and Ginger Jam. After weighing, put in preserving pan with the lemon juice, place over gentle heat, stirring occasionally until the rhubarb is pulped. Add the ginger, mixed with a little of the pulp, stir in, then add the sugar hot; when dissolved, bring the jam again to the boil. Boil quickly for half an hour, stirring constantly. Test, pot up, and cover.

Adding freshly grated ginger adds a little extra punch and texture!

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I found this lovely simple recipe for apricot jam within the pages of a very old cook book. I love discovering other peoples recipes from long ago, it feels like making a secret connection with a stranger, someone I’m never likely to meet, most probably they passed on years ago, possessions donated – including this battered recipe book to the crowded, dusty shelves of a local charity thrift shop. I feel a little sad that it’s been discarded, the beautiful handwriting of someone’s favorite apricot jam recipe – it’s worth keeping and worth sharing.

Here are some other wonderful traditional ways to make apricot jam and useful variations of the standard recipe.

APPLE AND APRICOT JAM

1 lb. dried apricots
5 1b. cooking apples
3 lemons, juice of 3, rind of 1
4 pints water
5 lb. sugar

After thorough washing, put apricots to soak in 3 pints of water. Leave 2 days, then cook them in the soaking water.
Prepare the apples by peeling, coring, and slicing, and place in a saucepan with remaining 1 pint of water. Turn the cooked apricots into pan with the lemon juice and 1 rind (grated), add sugar, and dissolve. Stir while coming to the boil, and continue to stir for another 5 minutes; then allow the preserve to boil rapidly for 12 minutes. Test, and when ready pot up cover at once.

Great care must be taken to see that the preserve does not burn or catch to bottom of pan.

APRICOT (FRESH FRUIT) JAM

4 lb. fresh apricots
4 lb. sugar
3/4 pint water

Wash or wipe the fruit, halve, and remove stones. Break about 2 dozen of the stones, and save the kernels. Cover them with boiling water, and, after taking off skins, add the halved white kernels to the apricots in the pan. Bring up to simmering and keep it simmering steadily until reduced and the apricots are quite tender. Draw away from the heat while sugar is stirred and dissolved, then allow to boil up. and continue to boil quickly until a set is obtained. Pot up and cover.

APRICOT JAM MADE FROM PULP

3 1/2 lb. apricot pulp
3 1/2 lb. sugar
Rind and juice of 2 lemons

Weigh pulp, add the sugar, the grated rinds, and juice of the lemons. Allow to stand in an earthenware basin for 1 hour. Bring to the boil and boil hard for 25 minutes. Test on a plate, remove pan from stove, stir jam for 5 minutes, then pot and cover immediately.

This pulp jam is best made in small quantities at a time, and is then much easier to manage than if large quantitis are made.

DRIED APRICOT JAM

1 1/2 lb. apricots (dried)
5 lb. sugar
4 1/2 pints water
20 almonds (blanched and split)
juice of 2 lemons

Rinse the fruit throwh three lots of tepid water; drain, then leave it soaking for 2 days, covered with the 4 1/2 pints of water.
Grease a preserving pan with a small nut of butter before putting in the apricots, the water they were soaked in, and strained lemon juice. Boil for 40 minuites, freqently stirring. Add the sugar, and when dissolved put in the almonds, and continue to stir until the jam is ready to set when tested. Pot up and cover.

The almonds may be omitted, but they give the flavour and appearance of jam made with fresh apricots.

APRICOT AND PINEAPPLE JAM

2 1/2 lb. dried apricots
6 lb. sugar
I large tin of pineapple
Water

Wash the apricots, then allow them to soak for 48 hours in the water keeping the liquid; cut up the apricots and pineapple into small pieces. Place in pan with liquid from soaking apricots and from the pineapple tin, bring to the boil, stir in and dissolve sugar, return pan to stove, boil quickly, stirring frequently for 30 to 35 minutes. Add a few split
almonds, if liked, with the sugar. Pot up and cover at once.

DRIED APRICOTS AND RHUBARB JAM

4 lb. rhubarb
2 lb. dried apricots
3 lemons
5 lb. sugar

Wash apricots, then cover with water and allow them to soak for 36 hours.
Wash, dry, and cut rhubarb into small pieces, put in basin; sprinkle over it 1 lb. of the sugar. Now place the apricots and water in which they were soaked and the rhubarb into preserving pan. Wash lemons, cut them in quarters, add, and simmer for 1 hour. Add the remainder of the sugar, bring to the boil again, boil for 30, minutes longer. Remove pieces of lemon, and pot up and seal.

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There are several aids to quick setting of jams and jellies – bottled pectin and pectin in powder form. For busy people with more fruit than time, these special preparations are of real service to the home jam maker. They do all that is promised by the manufacturers and, though they may slightly increase the cost of the jam or jelly, I think some allowance must be made for the very definite saving in fuel, labour, and most importantly, time.

Remember that a glass marble swinging round at the bottom of the pan will help to keep the jam from burning. Add pure glycerine, stirred in 2 or 3 minutes before jam is ready to put up, will help to preserve it. One teaspoonful of glycerine for every 4 lb. of jam.

How to Test Jam for Set

When the jam appears to be thickening and a little hangs on the edge of the wooden spoon when held up, let the first test be made, but before doing so lower the heat, or draw back the pan to the side of the stove so that the preserve will continue to cook at a gentle simmer. Drop a spoonful of jam on a cold plate or saucer and stand it in the cool (a draughty window-sill is helpful). Give the test 5 minutes, tilt the saucer, and if the jam wrinkles a little and has a ‘crépy’ appearance it is ready, and can be potted up at once. On the other hand, if it shows still liquid and smooth, more cooking is called for. Raise the heat once more, and boil briskly for another 5 or 6 minutes before drawing once more to the side and testing a second spoonful.
It is always wise to reduce heat while testing, otherwise the jam may be over-boiled during the time taken up in the set. In a wet season, jam requires several minutes’ longer boil, to drive off the excessive moisture.

A small knob of butter added to jams is useful in imparting a brighter appearance to the preserve and in making scum easier to remove, as the butter aids in colecting it in one place. Butter papers, smeared over the bottom and just up the sides of the preserving pan before putting in the fruit, will make for greater safety against the preserve catching and burning. But care is still called for in adjusting the heat – jam making demands constant watchfulness.

Jam Crystallizing

When jam crystallizes it is not a problem, so it can be left undisturbed, but whenever a pot is required, just turn the contents into a small saucepan and bring nearly to the boil, then put into a clean pot. Excellent for present use and it is quite clear, but if stored would go sugary on the top again.

Sugarless Fruit-pulp for Jam-making

In the case of raspberries and other soft fruits, put the fruit into a preserving pan over very gentle heat until the juice begins to run, then increase the heat until the preserve is boiling; boil steadily for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring steadily. Continue to boil until you see the somewhat dry pulp draw away a little from the sides of the pan. Have your jars ready to go, they should be clean and dry and hot.

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Fruit for jam and jelly making should be fresh and of sound quality. Sugar should be good and clean. Jars, whether of glass or earthenware, may be rolled through very hot, or even boiling, water, then wiped dry and warmed before the preserve is filled into them. Opinions vary as to the wisdom of sealing jams down when hot, There is much to be said in favour of quick sealing, but as many people prefer to seal preserves when cold, it is essential that the little waxed disks should be applied to the top of the jam immediately it is put into the jars. The disk is some preventative against dust and other impurities from the air attacking the contents of the jar.

Many fruits, such as blackcurrants, gooseberries, and damsons, are the better for the addition of water, and in all cases where water is used the fruit and water should be put into the preserving pan together, brought to the boil, and cooked for some time before the sugar is added. It is well to remember that it is the fruit and not the sugar that needs cooking, and jams and jellies subjected to too long boiling with the sugar are apt to – lose colour and flavour, besides being reduced in quantity.

When possible, gather fruit when dry. In very wet seasons, the damp and cold round about fruit-picking time affects jam very seriously, because the fruit has a reduced amount of natural sugar in it. Result, more tendency to mildew and less chance of sound keeping.

There are some fruits that do not contain enough pectin and acid to make the jam set, but there are various ways in which pectin and acid can be added, one being to combine one fruit deficient in these qualities with another which is rich in pectin. For instance, some of the fruits which set well and cover quite a long season are green gooseberries, red currants, firm ripe loganberries, sour apples, damsons, and red unripe blackberries.

The pectin extract from any one of these can be obtained by washing the fruit well, and, in the case of apples, cutting them up without peeling or coring, weighing the fruit before placing it in a pan, allowing 2 pints of water to 6 lb. of fruit.

The method then is to simmer until tender, mashing all occasionally, then turn into a jelly bag, previously scalded with boiling water, and allow the fruit to drip for some hours. A second extract is made by returning the fruit pulp to the preserving pan, adding just sufficient water to make a wet mash; bring it again to the boil and keep it simmering for 1 1/2 hours. Then strain through a freshly scalded bag and mix with the first extract – this makes for economy.

The extract is ready for adding to fruits deficient in pectin and acid at the rate of 1 pint to each 4 lb. of fruit. Fruits which benefit by the addition of extract are: apricots, rhubarb, cherries, strawberries, ripe blackberries, and other fruits which are definitely over-ripe when ready to be turned into jam. Some raspberries and bilberries also benefit by the addition of a little extract when being preserved.

Another great advantage of using extract is that it reduces the time that the fruit would otherwise take to secure a setting.

Lemon juice is one of the finest methods of adding pectin and acid; this is easily added in the proportion of 2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice to 2 lb. of fruit for such fruit as marrow, pumpkin and rhubarb. Add before starting the cooking of the fruit.
When using poor-setting fruits, the addition of 1 level teaspoonful of tartaric acid or citric acid to each 2 ib. of fruit will help them to set. Crush the acid to fine powder, dissolve in a spoonful of water, and add to the fruit when first put in the preserving pan.

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