tropit

Last year the birds got all of our blackberries. But this year we have a bumper crop! I made a pie this morning. I don't want to make jam...it's to dang hot here for that. Got any other ideas? I'm thinking of just making a simple blackberry "curd" that stays in the fridge and can be whipped up in minutes. But that won't even put a dent in it. I have a lot of blackberries in the fridge.

RedGarnet222

I think maybe you could render out the juice through cheesecloth and freeze it in quart bags. Use a little salt and lemon juice on it to preserve the berries from going bad. This way, you can take out a bag for say blackberry tea or making jam in the fall. Lucky you to have so much now on hand. My cherry tree got frozen back in the spring, and I only harvested one small quart-sized bag in total. There have been so many families sorrowed by this. We normally share huge bags with hubby's work friends, our family and friends here in the neighborhood. So many people asked what happened to my cherries? I felt so bad.

Iceblossom

What a wonderful problem!

Not ideal, but I have saved up berries by freezing them before turning them into jam. Also peaches going bad... cut 'em up, freeze up and deal with them when its cooler.

Mostly I make pies with blackberries, nothing special and my crusts aren't very good -- never really got the touch for pie crust.

Snooze2978

As I grow strawberries, raspberries and a few blackberries, I've been putting them into freezer quart bags. I clean them up, lay them on cookie sheets, then freeze them overnight before putting them into the bags as this keeps them from sticking together in a mess. Most times the next Spring, I'm handing them out to my neighbors and at my church. They're never turned away.

Scalloped

I freeze on cookie sheets, too. A bit of work but worth it.

Here's a recipe I'll try with the next bunch of berries we get. Then I'll freeze jars of it.
Microwave berry jam | King Arthur Baking

tropit

Thanks everyone. I'm trying the blackberry curd this morning. I started early, while it was still cool. It's supposed to get into the 90s today...Augh! Basically, it just berries, a little water, sugar and cornstarch. No eggs. I think it's going to be OK. I took out spoonfuls once in awhile to see how gelled and while it's a little softer than jam made with pectin, it'll do. I'm not following a recipe, but just going on my instincts. Fingers crossed.

I've had a lot of problems with making jam with pectin since I've moved here. I've changed the brand of pectin, used the calcium water, followed the directions to a T, but sometimes it just doesn't gel, or worse, it turns out like a hard brick. I think that it's our spring water that's causing the problems. We had very hard well water at our former home and my jam always came out great. But our spring water is very soft and variable throughout the year. If this cornstarch method works, I'm going which over.

QuiltE

As already said by others .... let the freezer be your friend!

Here's a tip for "at-home-flash-frozen" style ...
I never have the luxury of flat freezer space to use cookie sheets, etc.
Put the fruit in ziplock bags (the bigger the bag the better)
Then put semi-flat in freezer til frozen.
Can stack them and find lots of places for them.

Yes it takes a bunch of bags, but I know my berries will stay put in the freezer until I am ready to consolidate them in to full bags, once frozen.

Works not only for fruit ... but also great for pasta, rice, shredded cheese, etc.
Anything that you want to keep separated when frozen.

tropit

I did make a pie and it was pretty good. Do you want some tips on making a good pie crust? I'm sure everyone on the QB will chime in. Here's mine:

Don't use all butter for your crust. It tastes great, but butter has animal proteins in it s/a casein, that will make the crust tough and heavy. Instead, opt for a vegetable shortening, s/a Crisco, or lard, if you can find it. You can still replace the shortening with a little butter for taste, but not too much.

When mixing the flour with the shortening, don't use a food processor. Instead, use 2 criss-crossing knives, or your fingers to break down the shortening. Don't over do it, you still want some small chunks of shortening in the flour. That's what helps to create the flakes.

Be careful how much ice water you put into the dough. Put it in one tablespoon at a time and toss lightly after each spoonful. If the recipe calls for 7 tablespoons, start with 5 and see if the dough will hold together when you give it a squeeze, then add more as needed.

Handle the dough as little as possible. Wrap it up in plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour in the fridge before you roll it out. I like to roll mine out on parchment paper dusted with a small bit of flour. Again, keep a light touch and work the dough as little as possible.

Your dough won't look like the ones on those food shows. They make theirs very wet because it's TV and they don't want their dough falling apart on air. Yours should look a little messy, maybe a just a bit dry and will probably have to be patched around the edges. It should not be too thin and you should see some flecks of shortening in the dough as you roll it out. Remember, the less you handle it, the better.

Using parchment paper makes it easy to flip the dough into the pan. Those TV shots where they drape the dough over a rolling pin are totally unrealistic. If it looks like rolled out Playdough, then it's too wet, and/or overworked.

It's nice to add an egg wash on the dough after the pie is put together. I mix 1 egg with about a tablespoon of milk, or water, brush it lightly on the top, then sprinkle some regular, granulated sugar. This adds a bit of crispness to the crust when done.

Bake it in a fairly hot oven. It can help to put some folded tin foil over the crimped edges of the dough the last 15, or 20 minutes of baking to prevent burning. Just don't burn yourself like I always do.

OK...that's all I can think of at the moment. Climbing down off of my soapbox.

tropit

Thanks for that tip!

QuiltE

I might have created some confusion ... when you put the fruit in the ziplocks, you just kind of scatter it in there like it would be on the cookie sheets. What I do is put a bit in the bottom, zip it, then lay flat and kind of smoosh the fruit around (without crushing it!). You'll soon get a sense as to how much you can put in the bottom of the bag to have the right amount.

Other things I do this way are chopped/sliced onions, peppers, celery. If I have them in the freezer, they're ready and waiting to be added into recipes with less work at the time!

Hope this clears up the mud?