Jam ... Yum.

Have you ever made jam?  Up until this summer I thought jam/jelly/preserves were just something best left to buying at the grocery store in jars.  I had no interest in canning or preserving and isn't that what you do with jam when you make it?

Ha! Wrong again.  My mom's been going through rough medical issues and back in March when she was going through yet another chemo treatment it was really difficult for her to want to eat anything.  Yet what did she want?  Toast with jelly.  Okay, sure, no problem ... um ... no jelly in the house <sigh>.  So I came across this recipe for strawberry jam and my obsession began.

3 ingredients.  That's it.  Strawberries.  Sugar.  Lemon Juice.  I halved that recipe that day and it made the most delicious jam we'd ever tasted.  I'm sure some of you are laughing about that - because you already know that fresh always tastes much better than canned but it was an eye opener for me!

So I started experimenting - and think I came up with my favorite.  Strawberry-blueberry.

I start usually with a container of strawberries (hulled and cut in quarters) and a container of blueberries (both washed of course!), add 2 cups of sugar and a couple tablespoons of lemon juice.  Boil it until it reaches 220 degrees (F) and yummy perfection is what remains.

It makes just enough to fill my little container there and that lasts us a couple of weeks.  Now that berry season is over with I'm debating using frozen and seeing how that turns out.   Anyone out there ever tried?

Comments

[paula]

I got into canning a couple of years ago but discovered that canning was more fun that actually eating what I canned. Only so much of that stuff I could eat. It makes better sense to make a small batch like you have and just use it up right away.

I hope your mom is doing better than my mom. Two rounds of chemo did her in, she just couldn't tolerate it apparently. It's only a matter of time now.

[Gail]

Never tried making it with frozen. I just buy lots of fresh & make a batch to keep till the next berry season. I'll have to try that berry combination. Sorry to hear your Mum's having these issues.

[Kathy]

Jana and I have started jamming too. We just got done with 50# of pickles this November. We'll have to swap horror stories, so as not to repeat mistakes. HA!