Adventures in jam land

We had been out of jam in our household for four days or so, and I had been planning to make some strawberry jam once the local strawberry farm opened the fields for picking. Then, as I was looking at the grocery store sale insert making my grocery list for the week, I saw that 6 oz containers of blackberries were on sale for $1!!!!!!!!

I LOVE black berry jam so I thought here is my chance! I actually planted a blackberry bush last spring, and it should fruit for the first time, this year, but I have no idea how much fruit to expect. If the bush produces a good quantity of berries year, I am planning to make a cobbler! mmmm!!

So I bought my pectin, the jars, eight cartons of blackberries, and I found a good recipe online! I have to admit that I made the traditional full sugar jam, and it is FABULOUS!!! :) All things in moderation, right?! And at least it isn't high fructose corn syrup, right? :)

So Wed. afternoon, I put Lucy down for her nap, and I got Avery all excited to make, "peanut butter and jelly!" I started taking out the supplies when I realized that my large pot was not going to be deep enough to cover all the jars with boiling water to seal them... I spent 15 minutes scouring the internet for exceptions to this rule, but I found none. :(

I called my mom who lives 15 minutes away, and I asked if we could come over and take over her kitchen to make the jam so that I could use her stock pot. She agreed, and when Lucy woke up from her nap, we packed up and headed over.

I started by washing and crushing my berries, and I realized my dear mother doesn't own a potato masher so I improvised with a meat tenderizer...

Since it is important to crush the berries one layer at a time to avoid huge fruit chunks in the jam, it was a slow process with my substandard tool. However, after working my way through all but one package of blackberries, I decided that using a plastic cup would be far more efficient, and I finished the crushing in record time!

Then, I transferred all the berries to the pot, and I added the pectin a little at a time stirring it into the berries. Next, I stirred it constantly while the mixture came to a boil, and then I added all the sugar I pre measured into the berries.

Then, I brought it to a boil and boiled it for a minute still stirring constantly, and then I took it off the heat.

Before I started the berry crushing, I put all the jars in the dishwasher and used the sanitize setting to clean and sterilize the jars. This worked perfectly because I pulled the hot jars out of the dishwasher to pour in the hot jam. I have been told that putting hot jam in cold jars can cause cracking... I decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

Then, I spooned the jam into 8 oz. wide mouth Ball jars and wiped around the rims. Meanwhile, I had water coming to a boil in a deep stock pot ready to process and seal the jars.

Once the rims were wiped, I put a new lid on each jar and screwed on the metal rings. When the water started boiling, I used a pair of tongs to place each jar of jam into the water.

Yes, you read that right, I used tongs... yes, I used basic kitchen tongs to lower jars into boiling water.

Good idea?

NO

Why not?

Because the jars are slippery little critters, and one of the jars fell sideways into the water. In the four attempts it took me to get the jar upright again in the water, I managed to splash boiling water onto my arm which burned my skin. At this point, I cried out for my mommy who was in the next room on the phone. Oblivious to my burned arm, she did notice the boiling water splashing was putting their new macbook in danger. She of course swooped in to save the computer, and then went back to her phone conversation.

In my frustration, I believe I said, "your daughter has burned her arm, and you are worried about your computer??!!!" haha she had no idea I had hurt myself. :)

I did remember to say, "Thank you, Jesus, for the pain of my burned arm. Could you please help me get the jam in and out safely?" :)

I finally managed to right the rogue jar, and I got the rest of the jars successfully in the pot to boil.

For those of you now worried that canning your own jam is hazardous to your health, please don't be discouraged! This mishap was really just me being hard headed and not wanting to pay $5 for a jar grabber....  Plus my burn is really only the size of a nickel, and the jam is so worth it! haha

After the jam boiled for ten minutes, I carefully pulled them out with my tongs, praying that they would not splash back down into the water.... I successfully transferred them all to a towel to cool.

(The mishap disrupted my picture taking groove so I have no pictures of boiling the jars or the finished product.)

I did have trouble with two of them not sealing properly, and I don't think that I wiped the rims of those jars as well as I needed to so the jam disrupted the seal. Instead of re processing those jars, I just put a marker dot on the top of the jar, and those two became refrigerator jam to be used in the next few weeks. The processing is only necessary to safely keep the unused jam on the shelf without refrigeration.

I am so thrilled that I successfully made my own jam, and it has been a hit with my family. :) We had peanut butter and jelly for dinner that night to use my fresh jam! Avery was thrilled!! :)

I plan to go pick strawberries this Friday, and I will be making strawberry jam for a little variety. :) I decided to get smart, and I ordered a water bath canner, a funnel, and a jar grabber from Amazon, and they should be arriving in the next few days.

The water bath canner should allow me to can and process salsa and jams, and it is much cheaper than buying a huge stock pot to go with my cookware set.

The funnel should help me to more cleanly fill the jars, and the jar grabber is perfectly made to securely grip wet hot jars. No more burns for this lady! :)

I really enjoy all things having to do with cooking and baking, and jam making is right up my alley! The flavor is so much yummier than Smuckers! :)

I urge you to give it a shot! You won't be sorry!!