Himalayan blackberries are an invasive species in the pacific northwest, and they’ve done quite well. What started out as a few shoots in my backyard two years ago has become a monstrous bush that extends into four yards (mine and three neighbors). While absolutely covered in thorns, it perennially provides us with more blackberries than we can eat.

The bush, which lines my entire back fence, can provide as much as a quart per day of blackberries at the height of the season. While we do eat some fresh, we mostly make jam from it. Last year, it was enough for 60 8-oz jars of jam.

The first time I made jam was a couple of years ago and I was astounded at the amount of sugar it takes to make jam. Lamenting this fact at work, a mycologically-minded berry-picking coworker told me about Pamona’s Pectin which uses calcium as a catalyst for setting up, rather than sugar. As a result, we can make jam with no added refined sugar, though we do add apple juice concentrate for sweetening.