Blackcurrant jam with liquorice and lemon

Again I have been invited in for free picking of mega blackcurrants at my friend´s garden in Horsens. I could have turned these blackcurrant into a more normal blackcurrant jam. However, over a cup of tea after the berry picking process we discussed various options for twisting blackcurrant jam, and one option was to included liquorice, which I went back and actually did in my little kitchen.

The liquorice addition is giving a interesting flavour twist on top of the blackcurrant flavour. During my flavour adjustment process, I found that this jam with liquorice was becoming to sweet and mature in it´s flavour, so therefore I decided to add in some lemon zest and lemon juice to bring back freshness in the jam.

Blackcurrant jam with liquorice:

• 800 g (Danish) blackberries 
• 400 g jam sugar
• 1 teaspoon of raw liquorice
• 2½ tablespoon of sweet liquorice syrup
• ½ lemon - zest and 1-2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4-5 tablespoon water - optional

1. Heat up the blackcurrant and jam sugar in a cooking pot together with a small amount of water. I use extra water in order to avoid burning at the bottom of the cooking pot.
2. Bring the fruit to the boiling point and let it boil for 2 minutes
3. Add in the raw liquorice, sweet liquorice, lemon zest and lemon juice. I normally add it smaller steps, so I can fine tune the flavour profile to my preference. It is more easy to add some extra, than to remove an overdose of something.
4. Bring the fruit to the boiling point again and let it boil for 2 minutes
5. Prepare the jam glasses by filling them with boiling water. I do not use any preservatives in my home-made jam, so this is important to increase shelf-life of your jam. Another thing you can do is to store the jam cold afterwards.
6. Fill the glass with jam and close the glass.