If you haven't made jam before, you may not realize how EASY is really can be!!! Last summer when Nikki visited, I demonstrated to her how to make a batch of jam, and when we were finished, her statement was, "Wow! That really is a lot easier than I had imagined."
I recall spending time with my Grandma as a child (the same Grandma from whom I inherited all the quilting fabric in 2007). I don't remember how she made her jam; whether she used the same Sure-Jell recipe, but I DO remember picking berries and berries and more berries.
This is the SURE-JELL "quick & easy" method, and it's the ONLY way I have ever made, and probably every will make jam.
Today, it's raspberry jam. The GREAT thing about this----you ONLY need a relatively small amount of berries! Three cups crushed (about 5 cups of actual berries). The strawberry recipe only calls for TWO CUPS of crushed berries! Now come on! Who CAN'T go out and buy two cups worth of crushed berries?!?!?! And "homemade" jam tastes sooooooooo much better than ANYTHING you can buy in the store!
Probably the reason the jam tastes SOOOO good is all the SUGAR that is used!
Here are my 3 cups of crushed berries and 5 1/4 cups of sugar, ready. ({WOW! Quite the berry:sugar ratio!})
And mixed together...
While the berries and sugar sit for 10 minutes, I use that time to prepare/wash my containers.
Containers of choice: 9.5 oz "snack" containers. This is a generic brand by us (Our Family) and they come 6 to a pack; JUST enough for most of the recipes.
Once the 10 minutes expire (with a few stirrings of the berries/sugar during that time), the package of SURE-JELL (pectin) gets mixed with 3/4 cup water and brought to a hard boil for 1 minute.
Then.....pour the pectin solution into the berries/sugar and MIX.
Pour into containers....
and V'iola! "Homemade" jam!!!!!!
It REALLY is that simple! No boiling of the fruit and all that nonsense.
There are other recipes included in the package; "the Traditional" cooked method, but a) it's too much work and b) I DO NOT care for the flavor!
Once the jam has sat out overnight, it's ready to be put in the fridge and/or freezer. With only 6 containers to one batch, even freezer space shouldn't be that hard to find. (Right?) We have a chest freezer in the garage, so freezer space isn't all that limited (until it's pig butchering time, which usually comes during deer hunting time, which also means fresh venison too. THEN freezer space gets kinda tight). :D
