I can jam… yes I can… jamming mam I am…

Alright, I’ve been reading Dr. Seuss to our kids lately. This is my first attempt at making Jam and canning it. It turns out I used powdered pectin when I should have used liquid ? I don’t know if that is why the jam is not ‘set’ as firmly as what we purchase from the farmer’s market, but the taste – oh so wonderful – is the same sweet wild blackberry taste. I mashed the berries with a potato masher, then Daddy mashed some more. I cooked them with 4 c. sugar to 4 c. berries, 3/4 c. water with pectin added, and boiled for 12 minutes until it reached 220′. Then I packed them hot into my sterilized jars, leaving 1/2″ headroom, poured in 1/4″ wax, and put the lids on. I boiled them in a deep pot, with about 1+” water over top, rapidly for 20 minutes. I used tongs to put them on a dishtowel and left them to cool overnight. The next morning, I refrigerated all the jars, opening one to taste test…. Daddy and I decided to be lab rats and tried it on english muffins and toast, waited 48 hours – no one died, so ….

today…..the kids, Daddy and I, ate jam on everything! It’s so sinful – but we couldn’t resist.

That bowl of berries pictured before, made four jars of blackberry jam. One we are eating on now, is in an applesauce jar, there are two taco bell sauce jars full and one mason jam jar. Okay, I know you aren’t supposed to reuse jars, but it’s all I had and I did not want the jam to go to waste because we couldn’t buy the right stuff til payday. Besides, all the lids popped down and the lab rats didn’t die.

I can’t wait to purchase a pressure canner and some real jars and lids this fall. Every year I’ve been freezing the blanched tomatoes and berries. This year, I hope to have some pantry storage instead of filling up that costly freezer.