::domestic:: jamming

Can you believe that I've never made homemade jam or jellies?  I know, I know!  All the bread that gets made in this house and not a single jar of jam?!

Well, last week I set out to fix this oversight.  My friend Jennie and I bought some jars, pectin, and strawberries, and borrowed the Ball Complete Book of Preserving from the library.  There was a lot of strawberry mashing, boiling water, sugar, and head-scratching as we read the directions over and over to each other. But after a couple of hours, we each had a half-dozen jars of delicious strawberry jam:

I had a couple of empty jars left over, and a huge basket of blueberries, so the next day I made four more jars of blueberry jam. The process was not as difficult as I thought, and the jam is SO. GOOD. It tastes amazing!  I might never go back to storebought jams again!

Comments

[margene]

Many of my friends make jam. I feel so fortunate when the give me a jar.

[homejewel]

There is nothing like the taste of homemade jams and knowing what the ingredients are. I only learned when we moved back to OR. Check out Pomona brand pectin - you can get it at Whole Foods or stores like that. I can tell from reading your blog over the years that you prefer wholesome foods for your kids. Pomona is a great pectin that allows you more choices in sugars and you don't have to do only one recipe at a time. They have recipes in the package insert.

[Heather]

I love the taste of homemade jam. My favorite moment is just as it is coming off the stove, warm and very flavorful. So nice that you enjoyed the process.