Blackberry, Bay and Orange Chia Seed Jam (and our next event!)

All photos courtesy of Silija Birks

We made this at our first yoga brunch event in January and it went down a storm. This is the perfect way to get those chia seeds into your diet without always having to rely on chia seed pudding (as delicious as it can be!). Chia seeds are a power house of nutrition packed with fibre (37%), omega-3 fats, protein (20%), vitamins, minerals (calcium, potassium, magnesium) and antioxidants (vitamin E)! Not only that but their texture make them ideal as a replacement for pectin and sugar in making jam jammy! Basically adding chia seeds instead of sugar means that you can turn what would be a runny compote into a lovely sticky jam with all the added benefits of the chia seed nutrients. Amazing!

Here I wanted to spike the delicious blackberries with some more unusual flavours so added fragrant bay leaves and orange juice and peel. We added just a bit of sweetness with agave syrup - how much you add is up to you. This "jam" was perfect on a traditional PBJ, and if you make a batch at the weekend it will keep in the fridge all week, perfect for speedy, delicious breakfasts during the week.

Blackberry, Bay and Orange Chia Seed Jam

Ingredients

500g blackberries (fresh or frozen)

1 bay leaf

Peel and juice from 1 medium orange

3tbsp agave syrup

3-5tbsp chia seeds

Method

Wash your blackberries if needed and pop them into a medium saucepan over a medium heat (no need to defrost if frozen they will just take a little longer to cook down). Add the bay leaf, orange peel and juice and cook for around 15 minutes until the blackberries have softened and given off a fair amount of liquid, you can always mash them down a little if you want to break them up further.

Add the agave syrup and taste - you can always add more depending on how sweet you like it. Add 3tbsp of the chia seeds and mix in, after around 5 minutes the chia seeds will already have swelled up a lot and you will see if you need to add any more seeds depending on how much liquid your blackberries gave off. Leave to cool and store in the fridge for up to a week.

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If you like the look of this toast join us at our next Yoga Brunch event on the 5th March. After an hour of reviving vinyassa flow yoga with Holly you can try more of our delicious and nutritious combinations from the brunch buffet table. Get your tickets here.