A few months ago, my friends taught me how to make jam. I'd wanted to learn for a long time, but was very intimidated. Mostly, I was afraid of boutilism poisoning. I'd read these horror stories about not having properly prepared jars, and I was just sure I'd end up messing things up and killing my loved ones. But once I was shown how it was done - and how you basically boil the jars after filling to kill any nasty bacteria that might be lurking in there - I said good-bye to my fears. And hello to some of the most delicious jam I've ever had.I don't really remember having homemade jam around the house growing up. It wasn't something my mom made. And, to be honest, I don't normally eat a lot of jam. Maybe on the occasional piece of toast or in a PB&J. That's about it. So I thought there was no way I'd ever get to the end of my 12 half-pints of strawberry jam. I gave a few jars away to family members, but kept most for myself. And, amazingly enough, we went through it all within about 6 weeks! I found that I'd seek out reasons to eat jam. I had it on pancakes, on ice cream, and on cheesecake. It was so delicious! And when we ran out (actually, we're almost to the end of the last jar...not quite finished), I knew I needed to make some more.
The past two nights, I've made jam. On my own! No friends to guide me. I made one batch of triple berry jam (raspberries, strawberries and blackberries), one mixed berry (raspberry & blackberry), and one of plain raspberries. I felt such a wonderful sense of accomplishment. And the jam is simply delicious. Especially the mixed berry. Here is what the jam looked like as it was cooking. Isn't it the most beautiful ruby red color?
The mixed berry was my favorite. With that batch, I filled the jars and found I had just a bit left over. Not enough to fill a jar. So I put it into a small bowl and stuck it in the fridge. The next morning I tasted it, and it was so good I ended up eating it out of the bowl with a spoon. So delicious and sweet! And it set nicely, too. Not as runny as my strawberry jam had been.
So, the kitchen smells of berries and my jam cupboard is full! My dear friend Cassie has access to an apricot tree and I'm hoping to maybe get my hands on some for jamming purposes. I also got a book about homemade preserves from the Ball Canning Company. It has lots of cool recipes. It gets me thinking about all the many things I could make and then preserve. Spaghetti sauce and salsa sound especially good to me. There's even a recipe for a lemonade concentrate!I feel like I'm learning a really valuable skill. Delicious food with no scary preservatives or chemicals. Next, I'm going to attempt to make yogurt. This great blog I found (Old School) has a recipe for making yogurt from powdered milk. I definitely want to try it. I also want to start making more bread at home. But one thing at a time.
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