Easy Pear and Blackberry Jam Recipe (Small batch, no pectin) (2024)

Published on October 10, 2017 by Helen Best-Shaw 33 Comments
Last Updated on February 9, 2024

This easy recipe for pear and blackberry jam is a simple twist on the more usual blackberry and apple jam recipe. Small batch makes jam making quick as well as delicious! Three ingredient & no pectin.

In a competition between pears and apples, a pear will always be my winner. They are famously only supposed to be at a state of peak ripeness for 20 minutes, but when I do find one at its peak, there’s nothing quite like it: juicy and delicious.

Pears can also be enjoyed in many other ways, such as my or , and in this pear and blackberry jam recipe.

See Also

• Black cherry jamis a year round favourite
• Use either fresh or frozen blueberries to makeblueberry jam
• Fig jamis easy and delicious with blue cheese

We’ve been enjoying getting back onto the preserving horse recently, focusing on making small batch jams and jellies – whipping up a small saucepan, enough to fill a couple of jam jars, rather than a large preserving pan that results in a groaning cupboard.

A couple of jars of three or four different types of jam easily lasts the year for us, and it also means that we’re eating jam that’s fresh and that you can ring the flavour changes, rather than eating the same jam year in and year out until it is old and crystallized.

Blackberry season is short, and whether you’re foraging your own or buying from the supermarket, this jam is perfect – simply freeze the blackberries, and make the jam when you have time and some pears to hand, and want to free up that space in the freezer.

This year, we’ve made the more common basic blackberry jam, blackberry and apple jam as well as blackberry and apple jelly, and this recipe is just as easy as they are.

How to I make easy pear and blackberry jam?

First, simmer pears and blackberries until soft in a good sized saucepan.

Second, add the sugar, and continue heat slowly until it’s all dissolved.

Third, to turn the mixture int jam, the pectin found naturally in pears has to be activated. This is done, as with all jam, by heating up the mixture until it reaches the setting point. So turn up the heat until the jam reached a fast rolling boil, and start to test for a set.

3 ways of testing jam setting points

The temperature test. Really accurate electronic jam thermometers are readily available, and not expensive. They are much easier to read than traditional jam thermometers. Heat the jam to the setting point and once it’s there, you know it’s ready.
The wrinkle test. Place a couple of side plates in the freezer before you add the sugar. Once the jam is boiling, start testing by placing some on the plate. Allow it to cool; when you push your finger through, you’ll see it wrinkle up ahead of your finger. This technique takes a bit of practice.
The flake test. Take a spoonful of jam from the pan and turn it vertically to tip out the jam. If the jam runs off, it hasn’t set. If, however a little remains on the spoon in a sort of wide drip that doesn’t fall, then the jam is ready. Again, this works best with some practice.

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Fourth, once the jam has reached the setting point, let it cool for a few minutes.

Finally, spoon the jam into jars that have been sterilized by heating in a low oven. Seal the lid and let the jam cool fully.

Jam making 101

• How to make jam / jelly– everything you need to know to make batch after batch of delicious jam or jelly
• For an in depth look at the how and whys read my completeguide to jam setting point
• Jam vs jelly– just what is the difference between these two preserves?

Easy blackberry and pear jam – ingredient ratios

Making jams by ratio makes the recipes easy to scale up and down.

• Equal weight of pear and blackberries
• Weight of sugar equals the total weight of the fruit
• 400g total of fruit makes about 600g of jam

More jam recipes?

Are you ready to make more jam?

• Use a bag of berries from the freezer to make thismixed berry jam
• Small batchblackberry jam– when you have only managed to forage a few blackberries
• 4 nectarines make 2 delicious jars ofnectarine jam
• Plum jamis delicious and easy to make
• a classic –blackberry and apple jam
• Rhubarb jam is pretty and pink and a ideal use of new season rhubarb
• All myjam and jelly recipesin one place to choose from