You had to really think ahead on the home-front during WW2. Bottling hedgerow fruits during the late summer months would have enabled you to use many of those berries to make Christmas mince pies. The fruits bulked out the dried fruit which was much harder to get hold of in the quantities most housewives were used to.
This recipe comes from ‘Woman Magazine’ and makes about 3-4 jam jars or at least a large litre kilner jar and will be enough to fill 24 mince pies!
I made this today and as I had no blackberries and obviously wasn’t forward thinking like many bakers during WW2, I was able to just pop along to my local Sainsbury’s a buy a frozen basics bag of forest berries which includes blackberries. They’ve worked very well!
I tasted a spoonful before bottling and it tastes very much like a mix between traditional mincemeat and apple pie mixture. Very tasty!
Blackberry Mincemeat for Christmas Mince pies.
1 lb blackberries (or mixed berries). Use fresh, frozen or bottled.
4 cooking apples
4 oz (100 g) butter, margarine or shredded suet
4 oz (100 g) of chopped mixed nuts
1/2 lbs (200 g) of dried mixed fruit
2 – 3 rounded dessertspoons of soft brown sugar (or granulated)
8-10 drops almond essence
2 rounded teaspoons of mixed spice
Honey or golden syrup
Method
Chop up apples and place in saucepan with a spoonful of water and soft brown sugar and simmer until apple is soft and getting pulpy.
Add berries, spice and almond essence and simmer on low for another 15 minutes stirring now and again. Switch off heat.
Add your margarine/butter/suet and stir in until melted
Add chopped nuts and dried fruit and stir (at this stage if you wish you can add a dram of whisky or brandy.)
Spoon into clean, sterilized jam jars and once filled drizzle the top with a little warm honey or golden syrup to seal before adding lid.
Store in the fridge or somewhere cool until needed when you make your mince pies at Christmas!
Should keep for 3 – 6 months in the fridge!
The 1940's Experiment 
That looks delicious I’ll be trying that. Can’t wait for the decorations xx
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Looks delicious…and I have loads of foraged blackberries in the freezer!
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I just so happened to have 4 apples and some frozen blueberries when I saw this recipe. I just made it and it is delicious! I used spiced rum and some lemon rind. This will be excellent for the holidays
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oooo gosh that sounds so nice!! Some lemon zest would really add a nice fresh flavour too!!! xxx
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This sounds really good – I’ll give it a go next year (already made my mincemeat for this year!)
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Thanks again for what sounds like another delicious recipe. I have blueberries, blackberries and raspberries frozen from the garden so this will be a real treat.
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Hi Dianne – I tried some of the mixture today after it had been in the fridge for two days…its delicious so would highly recommend you try this recipe! xxx
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Reblogged this on The 1940's Experiment and commented:
Just to get you in the mood, I’ve made blackberry mincemeat for my Christmas mince pies in the past. Will do the same again as they are quite delicious!
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I bottled lots of blackberries this year as well as enough jam to sink a battleship. I think I’ll have a go at the mincemeat too. Sounds luscious. I’ll add a spoonful of jam to it and use less sugar. Do you think bottled blackberries will work well of might they be too wet?
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Sounds delicious, I’ll have to give it a try. Thinking outside the box, I made green tomato mincemeat last year when I had a glut of toms that didn’t ripen. Still have some left, and you’d hardly know it was any different from regular mincemeat.
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I’m pretty sure I have a small bag of blackberries (from last year) in the freezer. I’ve also got a huge bag of currants that I got, reduced to 10p from the local Co-op. I’ve bookmarked this! Thank you for posting it
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Is that a typo? Re mixed dried fruit, should it say 200gram = half a pound?
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Well spotted and thank you!!!! I’ll go and change that xxx 🙂
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