No-cook jam

Another tasty fruit on the slightly weird and unheard of list: blackberry jam fruit! Completely unrelated to blackberries, the blackberry jam fruit (Randia formosa syn. Rosenbergiodendron formosum) is a shrubby tree and a member of the Rubiaceae family (or the Coffee/Gardenia family). As you would expect it has beautiful glossy green leaves and gorgeous white, star-shaped, lightly fragrant flowers.

The fruit that form are about the size of a grape and have a hard outer shell that starts green and eventually turns to yellow. Once ripe, the inside is a dark purple almost black pulp that looks just like blackberry jam and tastes like some sort of jammy/fruit pastey concoction. They are tiny but they are indeed delicious. The only downside is you’d have to open a lot of fruit to cover a scone! That and they’re kind of seedy. Like very seedy. And decent sized flat seeds that you’re uninclined to crunch and swallow. But still. Delicious. Don’t let that put you off. In fact, if you’re a fan of watermelon seed spitting competitions they’re really much the same and it could be considered an asset.

Blackberry jam fruit trees are native to the tropical northern parts of South America and are happy in part shade. As a member of the Rubiaceae family they do like their soil on the acidic side and reasonably well drained. They can grow to 2 m but respond well to pruning. Mine has been growing in the same pot for a few years now and managing quite fine, giving me a small handful of fruit every year. I give it VERY little love so I’d say they’re quite tough and definitely worth a shot! If you give it lots of love you may even get a scone sized dollop of jam. Just sieve the seeds out first..