A Weald Larder Waiting to be Picked

By early September the hedgerows of the Kent and Sussex Weald have begun to bow under their own weight. Blackberries hang over the lanes, elderberries cluster on their drooping stems, and the sloes are still hard and blue-black against the thorn. For the families who once lived and worked around the oast houses — the hop kilns that give this landscape its strange, cowled silhouettes — that fruit was never decorative. It was the household's jam, its ketchup, its country wine, and a way of stretching sugar and store-cupboard space through the winter.

A mixed autumn jam is the simplest way back into that rhythm. On its own, a blackberry jam is pleasant but thin in flavour; on its own, a sloe jam is austere enough to make your teeth ache. Together, with a few apples to bring the set, they make something dark, sharp and grown-up — a jam that tastes like a wet afternoon in the woods.

Foraging Safely, Sensibly and Legally

Start with the law, because it is not as permissive as many people assume. In England and Wales, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 allows you to pick fruit, flowers and fungi growing wild for your own use, but not to dig up plants. That right does not extend everywhere: nature reserves, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and many commons have their own bylaws, and the right to roam across open country does not include a right to take plants from it. On farmland, always ask. Most landowners say yes to a jam-maker with a basket; almost none say yes to someone who never asked.

Then the practical business. Pick above knee height on lanes where dogs pass, and avoid verges beside sprayed arable fields. Take a basket or a paper carrier — fruit sweats and crushes in plastic. Wear long sleeves, and gloves if you are going after sloes. Leave plenty behind; the berries are winter food for thrushes and blackcaps. Wash everything in cold water when you get home, and pick out the leaves, the stalks and the occasional small passenger.

Knowing Your Three Berries

• Blackberries — sweet, soft, low in pectin. Pick only fully black ones; a dull, dark red berry is sour and adds nothing. They bruise, so handle gently and use them within a day or two, or freeze them.
• Sloes — the fruit of the blackthorn, mouth-puckeringly astringent until cooked. Frost or a night in the freezer softens the skins and the tannin. Their stones are large, hard and not worth including, so simmer and then strain or fish them out.
• Elderberries — deep purple, small and juicy. Strip them from the stalks with a fork: the stalks and unripe green berries are unpleasant raw, and the whole berry needs thorough cooking. Never eat them uncooked.

Apples, Pectin and the Question of Set

None of these three berries sets reliably alone, which is where the orchard comes in. Apples are rich in pectin, and the best of all are crab apples and unripe Bramleys — the green, hard windfalls you would otherwise leave on the grass. As a rough guide, allow about 250g of roughly chopped apple per 1kg of prepared berries. They will all but dissolve into the jam, adding body without announcing themselves.

Acid helps pectin do its work, so a good squeeze of lemon juice is worth having. Sugar should be generous: around 750g to 1kg per 1kg of fruit pulp, depending on how many sloes you have used. Warming the sugar in a low oven first helps it dissolve quickly, which matters — undissolved crystals can turn up later as a gritty texture.

The Making, Step by Step

• Simmer the prepared berries and chopped apple with about 150ml of water until the fruit is completely soft — twenty to thirty minutes, lid on, stirring now and then.
• Rub the pulp through a coarse sieve if you want a smooth jam, or leave it rough if you like it that way. Fish out sloe stones as you find them.
• Return to the pan, add the lemon juice and the warmed sugar, and stir over a low heat until every grain has gone.
• Bring to a fast, rolling boil and hold it there for ten to fifteen minutes, stirring often, until the setting point is reached: 105°C on a thermometer, or a dab on a chilled saucer that wrinkles when you push it with a finger.
• Skim off the froth, leave to settle for five minutes, then pot.

Sterilising Jars and Sealing the Deal

Jam only keeps if the jars are properly clean. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse well, and stand them upside down in an oven at 140°C for fifteen minutes to dry and sterilise. Boil the lids for five minutes and lift them out with tongs. Fill the jars while both jar and jam are hot, right to the neck, and run a clean knife around the inside to release any trapped air. A wax disc on top is traditional; a well-sealed lid is essential.

Label with the month and your fruit mix, then store somewhere cool and dark. A dark, softly set hedgerow jam — spooned onto hot toast, or loosened with a little water and poured over venison — is one of the small, honest pleasures of the Weald in autumn, and it costs nothing but a walk and an afternoon.