Making Hedgerow Ketchup from Blackberries and Apples

Blackberry and apple is one of the great British pairings, and for good reason. The brambles that ramble through every hedgerow from late August give you fruit that is sweet, dark and faintly winey, but often a little thin on flavour once cooked. Apples bring the body, the sharpness and the pectin that holds everything together. Turn the two into a ketchup and you have something far more interesting than the supermarket version: dark purple-red, glossy, tangy enough to cut through a wedge of mature cheddar and sweet enough to spoon beside a slice of apple pie.

Why this pairing works

Think of it as a British answer to a spiced fruit sauce. The blackberries give colour and a deep, almost gamey fruitiness. Sharp apples — Bramleys, Cox's, or the crab apples you find in hedgerows — give acidity that stops the sauce tasting flat and jammy. Cider vinegar sharpens it further, sugar rounds it off, and a warm spice mix of ginger, mace and cloves pulls it into the territory of a good brown sauce.

The natural pectin in both fruits means you barely need to thicken it. Cook it down far enough and it will hold on a spoon without turning into a set jelly. That is the texture you want: pourable but clingy, the sort of thing that slides out of a bottle and sits proudly on a plate.

Picking your fruit

Blackberries are best picked on a dry day, once the morning dew has gone. Look for fruit that is almost black and comes away from the core with barely a tug — if it resists, it needs another few days. Pick no lower than knee height where you can help it, and avoid hedges beside busy roads or sprayed field margins. Take only what you will use, and leave plenty for the birds and for other foragers.

If the season runs short, freeze your berries in a single layer on a tray and bag them up. They will be every bit as good in the pan.

For the apples, windfalls from a garden tree are ideal, as are crab apples from the hedgerow — they are brilliantly sharp and set beautifully. A mixture works well: half Bramley for sharpness, half something sweeter for roundness. Peel, core and chop roughly. You do not need to be neat about it, since everything gets sieved later.

The basic recipe

This makes roughly one and a half litres, enough for several bottles and a few jars for gifts.

• 1kg ripe blackberries, rinsed and picked over for leaves and grubs
• 500g sharp apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• 300ml cider vinegar
• 200g soft light brown sugar, or to taste
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• Spices: a thumb of fresh ginger, sliced; 1 tsp ground mace; half a tsp ground cloves; half a tsp ground allspice; a good grind of black pepper; a dried chilli if you like a little heat

Tip everything into a heavy-based pan with the vinegar and a splash of water. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until the apples collapse completely and the berries have given up all their juice. Stir now and then so nothing catches.

Now pass the lot through a fine sieve or a food mill, pressing hard with the back of a ladle to extract every bit of pulp. Discard the seeds and skins left behind. Return the smooth purée to a clean pan and simmer uncovered for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and a channel drawn through it holds its shape.

Getting the flavour and texture right

Taste as you go, because hedgerow fruit varies enormously from year to year. If it tastes flat, add a splash more vinegar. If it is too sharp, a little more sugar. If it is dull, a pinch more salt — salt does more for a ketchup than most people expect. The finished sauce should be glossy and pourable, but thick enough to sit on a spoon rather than run off it.

If you prefer a smoother, more commercial texture, blitz it with a stick blender once it has cooled slightly. If you want a coarser, more rustic ketchup, leave it as it is. Either way, pass it through a sieve one last time if you want it truly silky.

Bottling and keeping

Sterilise your bottles and jars properly — wash them in hot soapy water, rinse, then heat in a low oven at 140°C for fifteen minutes. Fill them while the ketchup is still hot, right to the top, and seal immediately. The vinegar, sugar and salt do the preserving work here, so there is no need for a water bath.

Unopened, it will keep in a cool, dark cupboard for a year or more. Once opened, keep it in the fridge and use within a month or two. If you spot any mould or a sour, fizzy smell, throw that bottle out without hesitation.

How to use it

This is a sauce that earns its place on the table. Put a small dish of it on a cheese board, particularly beside a mature Cheddar, a crumbly Lancashire or a soft goat's cheese. Spoon it alongside pork pies, sausage rolls, cold roast pork or game. Swirl a little through the filling of an apple pie or a crumble for an unexpected tang. Brush it over sausages or a joint of pork before they go in the oven for a sticky, mahogany glaze. And if you are the sort of person who puts brown sauce on a bacon sandwich, you already know what to do.