Friday, June 18, 2010

Jammin'

We're definitely a jam-eating family.  My kids will eat it on just about anything - toast biscuits, yogurt, oatmeal, PBJ's...you get the idea.  And they love homemade.  Last week HEB had a $2 off coupon for Ball canning jars, pint size, but they were out by the time I noticed.  ):  That's ok; I save the jars my mother sends home with me - she's a big jam and jelly maker.  Today I  took advantage of $1.67 strawberries and half a bag of blueberries I had in the freezer. 
I pulled out my odd assortment of jelly jars and set to work.  I start off by boiling a big pot of water with the lids in for 5 minutes, then dump the water into my clean jars while I use the pot to make the jam.  I mash up the fruit and pectin while I'm waiting for it to come to a boil.
I dump in the sugar and let it come to a boil then continue boiling and stirring for 1 minute - I just basically follow the directions on the pectin box to get the right sugar to fruit  ratio - very important if you want your jam to set.
It smells great and is so pretty and purple-y.
I use the inversion method to seal - I quickly pour the hot jam into the hot drained jars, clean the threads, put the caps on, screw lids tight, then turn upside down for 5 minutes while I clean up.  Then I set them right side up and listen for the POP!  While I've been typing this, two have popped.
  If the others don't, I will simply store them in the fridge - they won't live there long, believe me!


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Im going to be making some homemade strawberry jam this week too....love it! Im so glad you tried the shrimp, and it is GREAT in the skillet too, as you found out :) Have a great week

Hallie said...

I couldn't believe that the first entry on your blog was about jam! I was just wanting to find out how easy or hard it is to make and then you go writing about it! We are going to a peach festival this week and I want to try my hand at making some!

On another note, I got your package in the mail and can't thankyou enough for the wonderful swap!!! I am in love with thos flip flops and the shirt was oh so comfy too!!! Thankyou so much!!! I enjoy reading your blog and continue to follow! Hugs!