We went berry picking for the last two weekends. We made jam from both trips…however we had two very different experiences in making it. Only us I tell you!
So last weekend we went to Dunvegan Farms. We got a pail and a bit of strawberries and decided to make strawberry jam. We had jars and sugar already and just needed to pick up some pectin. So we set out to make jam one night after Ethan was in bed. First of all I had to hull the strawberries. As you will remember from my post on the subject, the strawberries were very small this year. So it took forever to hull them!
Once I got that done we washed them up and started to prepare the jam. This is where I screwed up and added the pectin too early…oops. Not to mention we had too much in the pot and this was the result.
Yup, a colossal mess! It boiled over, all over the stove, almost light on fire and resulted in runny strawberry jam.
Fast forward to yesterday. We went out to Old Bezanson Town Site, about 20 minutes from Grande Prairie for the afternoon. We had stumbled upon it last year and remembered that there was a lot of saskatoon and raspberry bushes there. So we went out and walked along a path picking berries and playing with sticks. Ethan had a blast and once he petered out we put him in the truck with Randy while I walked along the road picking berries. Again there wasn’t much for berries, they were very small and slim pickings. I managed to get about a quarter of a pail of raspberries with a few saskatoons. There were quite a few saskatoons but Randy is not a fan so I didn’t bother picking many.
We got home and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them because I didn’t have enough to make jam. So I decided to thaw out some berries I had in the freezer and mix it all up and make a triple berry jam. While I was thawing the berries, Mary showed up for a pail and returned with almost a full pail of raspberries that she picked from a friends house. So now I had enough berries to make a pure Raspberry jam as well as a Triple Berry Jam. Off to the store went Randy for Pectin and sugar. He barely got back before I sent him again for more raspberries because I was sure I would need just a few more berries to make the recipe.
Anyhow long story short, here are the pictures of the whole jam making experience!
How do you make jam? Here you go!
Start with yummy berries. this was before I picked out the saskatoons I had picked. It looks pretty though eh?
Mash so that your berries are all crushed.
Dump in a big pot…special note here, make sure your pot is big enough for everything!
Add sugar,
Lots and lots of sugar!
Mix together the berries and sugar and 1/2 tsp of butter.
Wait for the sugar to dissolve then bring to a full rolling boil that can’t be stirred down. THEN add the pectin and continue to boil and stir for 1 minute. (This is where I always screw up and add the pectin too early…I didn’t this time though)
Ladle your jam into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4” of head room. Wipe the rim and seal with a ring and seal.
Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes or longer if you are above sea level. We processed for 15 minutes total.
That’s how you make jam! Next post is how to make pickled jalapeño peppers…mmmm good! Plus pictures of the finished jam!
No comments:
Post a Comment