Jam

I love the chapter in Little Women when Meg gets ambitious and makes currant jelly. She has John order some pots and extra sugar for the jelly and he sends a boy over to pick currants from their bush.  She boils and strains over and over again but the jelly never “jells” and in the process both she and the kitchen become a sticky mess.  The story goes on about how John brings home a friend for dinner that night and quarrels with Meg about the mess and lack of food and later they forgive each other.  It’s very sweet and I love the whole chapter but every time I read the account I laugh to myself as I picture Meg, her apron doused in sticky jelly, pots strewn about her, wailing on a chair because she can’t get the jelly to work.

I’m pretty sure if I’d tried making jelly her way, especially in the first few years I was married, the results would have been similar.

Thankfully we have freezers and boxed pectin these days that make freezer jam pretty darn easy.  If you’re me then it’s still somewhat messy but at least it gels.  I love freezer jam but have never had the freezer space to make any of my own.  Our freezer is always full to bursting with regular stuff and we’ve never had a place to even put an extra freezer until we moved to the home we’re in now.  For Christmas last year we asked my parents for a freezer and it’s been fantastic!  I can actually see what we have and am more likely to use it.  I also now have room for freezer jam.

Strawberries and blackberries were both on sale last week so I picked up some of each along with some pectin and small plastic jars.  I made the strawberry jam one night and blackberry the next.

One of my friends told me blackberries can be really seed-y so I’d probably want to strain at least some of it.  I like a little bit of crunch from seeds so I strained about half of them and the seed to jam ratio was perfect for me.

Strawberry

Blackberry

Aren’t the colors pretty?

When I pulled out the Karo the first night it realized it was almost gone.  I had just enough for the first batch.  As I put the lid back on I noticed the expiration date.  I knew it was old but didn’t know it was that old.  I polished it off just in the nick of time.

This is a treat I’ve been having every day since making them.  A piece of wheat toast with butter and jam; strawberry on one, blackberry on the other.  Yum!