We Be Jamming

So in another attempt at domestic bliss and supermomming I have made jam.

After my first attempt at jam (strawberry) last week that was so successful and easy...holy cow people...strawberry jam was EASY...I decided to jam something else.

Actually, let me first give you the strawberry jam recipe. Don't be afraid.

1 lb of strawberries

1 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice

Bam! Jam! That is it.

Take off the ends of the strawberries, dump them in a sauce pan, mash them up, pour in the other two ingredients, and mix it up over medium heat till the sugar dissolves. This is about 5 minutes give or take, then turn up the heat to medium high and get it going at a good simmer and don't stop mixing. Just keep going till it makes a little mound when you drop a spoonful of it on a cold dish.

By mound I mean it doesn't pour off the plate when you tip it and after it cools its a little goopy to the touch. My tip is let it cook about 2 minutes past when you think it should be done because you are probably like me and over eager. This only takes about 15 to 20 minutes and is a great thing to do with your child if they are old enough to stir or while you have friends over and hanging out in the kitchen.

Put it in a jar and you have jam. Oh, in case you don't usually save your bacon grease, you may not realize you should put a metal knife in the glass jar before pouring hot anything into it. Otherwise you may get more glass in your jam than you might like.

Ok, on to this week's jams.

The first jam was black currant. I got over excited by the strawberry jam and thought all jams would be as fast. Not the case.

Here are the cute little berries in their hair nets.

Adorable.

Then I realized I had to cut off all the little flower butts. (Not the technical term)

Suddenly 2 pints of adorable currants became a million pains in the flowering butt.

This recipe was water and sugar. You boil till it becomes jam. 

Sadly, I added 5 minutes over the two recommended above and it is a bit thick, but I don't like currents so I am not eating it. Stefan loves currants and says he can gladly choke it down. 

Onto Raspberry Jam!

Same recipe as Strawberry jam!

1 pound is roughly 5 of these little guys.

(Are you admiring the monster bush of dill there behind the berries. Might there be a pickling post to come?)

Mash, mix, simmer.

Pour into adorable glass jars. (don't forget your knife)

Feel really proud of yourself, shout your mantra (I am better than Martha Stewart and Kelly Ripa) even though you don't have any bows or crocheted lids and your jam doesn't quite fill up the jars.

In terms of canning, I tried to actually boil, and seal two of these. I am not at all confident that I have done it correctly despite the little bump in the center of the lid going POP! I guess we will have to wait for my post on botulism.

I say stick with a small batch of jam and put everything in the fridge and just eat it right away. 

I know you are asking, "Biz, how do you find the time?"

I ignore my baby and husband.

xoxo, 

Biz