Jam Session

Our grandmothers, and their mothers before them, have been canning jams and jellies ever since there was toast to spread them on.

The idea of canning has always appealed to me... but I figured why go to all the trouble when I can buy a pretty decent jar of jam in the store?

Recently my friend, Jen and I were discussing making Jam. We decided that we might not be ready for "real canning" but we could certainly give making Freezer Jam a try.

So we gathered the kids and our main ingredient... strawberries!

The strawberries were huge! Look at this one Karsyn is holding. It looks like a Red Bell Pepper!


Bryant was more than happy to use a butter knife to cut the strawberries for us.

Now I have to tell you... making Jam is the ultimate in easy satisfaction.
It's slow, it's sensuous, and it makes the kitchen smell like candy.

The process was quick and straightforward: Just combine fruit, sugar, a little pectin and then ladle it into containers.

Nothing compares to the gratification that comes from filling the pantry with jars of your own production.

That you get to eat it, too, is just icing on the cake—or, rather, I suppose, jam on the toast!

Before we knew it, we'd made a quadruple batch of strawberry jam.

We made just enough that we decided we could part with some and give some to our neighbors.

Our kids were happy to deliver such Yummy gifts...

As summer progresses, Jen and I plan on moving on to raspberries, peaches and then blackberries, too.

I guess we could say we're going to start having "Jam Sessions!"