Monday, July 5, 2010

what we did on the 4th.


we made jam. triple berry jam.












Strawberries that the kids and I picked the week before our Ohio trip, blueberries from the farmer's market and raspberries, well from the grocery store.






This was on my "to do" list and I am so thankful Joe lent a hand. We ended up having a fun little night of jam making while the kids relaxed and watched Cars. Since it was rainy we had bummed around taking lazy Sunday naps and took a little outing to the grocery followed by a similarly lazy little drive around town.






Then home to make jam :) And since we are dorks we took pictures, many pictures of the process. We used a fantastic pectin called Pomona's thanks to a few friends of mine that have used it, I got some at the Granary before it closed for the weekend, so glad I did! While many jam recipes called for 8 cups of sugar per 8 cups of fruit (I just couldn't do it!) we used a whopping 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of honey for 21 cups of fruit and it turned out VERY yummy! So happy to have a lower sugar option!






So, anyway. Many thanks to Joe for working his math magic on the Pomona's recipe maker.






We set to work getting everything ready to make jam. I cannot say enough times how much more fun this is when you are working with someone. Oh and put on a good cd or listen to a countdown on the radio.






Our recipe was:

21 cups of fruit

10.5 T pectin

10.5 T Calcium water

2 c honey

2 c sugar

1/2 c lemon juice


which yielded: 10 pints and 10 4oz mini-jam jars






After sampling it this morning, I am very pleased with the outcome.




Homemade jam and jelly is something I remember from my growing up years. My mom and grandma always had homemade strawberry, strawberry-rhubarb ( my favorite) apple butter, grape, raspberry etc. The list goes on. It was so good and I remember getting the jar out of the fridge for dessert of jam on biscuits. Making my own has been so much fun.




I love finding hobbies that Joe and I seem to enjoy together. At some points that is hard to come by, but the farmer's market and canning seem to be 2 of our favorites and they yield a yummy bounty. Now, if only we could pull a garden together! There's always next year, right?

3 comments:

  1. yum! i love doing things like that! i have not made jam in forever... i'll have to give it a try again using your recipe :) glad oyu guys had a fun day!

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  2. Thanks for the recipe! I was similarly daunted by the high sugar recipes. What is calcium water though? Its blueberry and cherry season here! YUM!

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  3. The calcium water mix comes in the pectin box so its all there. We're doing cherries next!

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