Covet Monday: Be a Domestic Goddess

If you read my Covet post from a couple of weeks ago, you will know that I am pretty rubbish in the kitchen but that a glut of plums made me take the plunge and try out my hand at jam making. In said post I also mentioned that we did not only harvest plums but also blackberries. I guess, I could have just followed the same recipe and done some blackberry jam but memories of my grandmother's blackberry syrup made me search for a syrup recipe. Really remarkably easy, I managed to not mess it up.

700g blackberries
700g sugar

1. Wash berries, don't worry about the odd stalk left in there
2. Put berries into a saucepan on a low to medium heat. Add sugar. Do NOT stir.
3. After 5 minutes the berries will start to break up. Stir gently.

4. Leave on a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stir gently every 5 minutes.
5. Put a muslin over a sieve and ladle in the mixture. Leave it to drip into a bowl for 1 hour. Do not squeeze.
6. Fill into sterilized bottles. I stood the bottles in boiling water for 10 minutes after filling.

The syrup is lovely drizzled over icecream or puddings, diluted in water or maybe in a glass of champagne as a Kir style drink.