We're Jamming.

I'd forgotten how fast and easy jam making was, until yesterday. I put a couple hours in and made a few batches of jam. Now, the label on the pectin says not to double the batches, but I did with the blueberry and strawberry, and everything jelled just fine. The four little jars are sweet cherry jam, which I'd never made before. All the batches were made with no sugar needed pectin and I greatly reduced the sugar content. I think it makes the cooked jam taste more like the original fruit to omit some sugar.

Now, granted, I had all the fruit ready to go - the strawberries were cleaned and frozen a month or so ago - I seriously lacked energy to do anything with them, plus we had no sugar (or fruit juice concentrate) which always puts a damper on jam making!

The cherries were salvaged from sure spoilage and frozen 2 weeks ago and the blueberries - I'm surprised they lasted - had been in a stock pot in our fridge for about 3 weeks. I had to sort through them again and wash them but they were champs. I think I lost about 25 berries total, which I can handle!

So, now I have all these jars of yummy jam to eat and share with neighbors. Two houses on our street have been purchase in the last month or so and I'm very excited about meeting the new families and saying "welcome to the neighborhood" with a jar of jam.

The best part? The only thing I paid for was the blueberries, new lids, and sugar. I already had or was given everything else. WOO HOO!