Maqvlis Muraba

the Georgian blackberry spoon preserve: whole wild blackberries cooked slowly in sugar to a thick, dark, glossy conserve, set before a guest with tea or dissolved by the spoonful against a winter cold

Origin: Georgia

From the journey of Blackberry.

Across the Caucasus and the whole Persianate world, the muraba (the Georgian word, cousin to the Persian morabbā and the Turkish reçel) is not a jam in the western sense but a spoon preserve: whole fruit suspended intact in a clear, thick syrup, cooked gently so that the berries keep their shape and their identity rather than collapsing to a spread. It is the fruit of hospitality. A little dish of muraba is set before a visitor with a glass of water and a cup of tea, eaten a spoonful at a time, and it is the sweet that ends a Georgian meal as surely as the toast ends the supra. Blackberries, maqvali, grow wild and abundant across the woods and river valleys of Georgia and Armenia, and the region's own great bramble is Rubus armeniacus, the large, sweet, glossy fruit that western nurseries would later misname the 'Himalayan Giant' and carry to America. Cooked into muraba, the blackberry gives one of the darkest and most fragrant of all the Caucasian preserves, deep purple-black, faintly winey, and cut with lemon to keep it from cloying. The art lies entirely in patience and restraint: too fierce a boil breaks the fruit and dulls the flavour, so the berries are steeped in sugar to draw their juice before ever they see the heat, and the syrup is brought slowly to its set.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg ripe blackberries, firm rather than soft
  • 800 g granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 strip lemon zest, pared in a wide ribbon

Method

  1. Pick over the blackberries, discarding any that are crushed, mouldy, or unripe, and tip them gently into a wide, heavy preserving pan or bowl. Pour the sugar over in an even layer, cover, and leave in a cool place for several hours, or overnight, until the sugar has drawn a pool of dark juice from the fruit.
  2. Set the pan over a low heat and warm slowly, tilting rather than stirring, until the last of the sugar dissolves and the juice runs freely. Add the lemon juice and the pared strip of zest.
  3. Bring the preserve to a gentle simmer and cook, skimming the pink foam as it rises, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the syrup is thick and glossy and a little dropped onto a cold saucer wrinkles when pushed with a fingertip. The berries should remain whole, glistening in a dark syrup.
  4. Lift out and discard the strip of zest. Ladle the hot preserve into warm, sterilised jars, seal at once, and leave to cool. Serve by the spoonful in a small dish alongside tea, or with unsweetened yogurt or fresh white cheese.

Notes

A muraba should be softer and more syrupy than a western jam; it is meant to be eaten with a spoon, not spread, and the syrup should pour slowly rather than set to a solid gel. If the fruit is very juicy and the syrup slow to thicken, lift the whole berries out with a slotted spoon once they are cooked, reduce the syrup alone for a few minutes more, then return them, so the fruit is never overcooked. A few Georgian cooks add a clove or two, or a little crushed cardamom, but the plain blackberry-and-lemon version is the most usual and shows the fruit best.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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