For my birthday this past year, Elaine gave me the greatest present ever...She taught me how to make jam. Our efforts were quite rewarding, I must say, and we had a blast messing around in the kitchen.
Because I've shared the end result from that batch with several people, I found myself without jam recently and decided to fix that with another jam-making session. This time, I chose Rochester as my location and my mom as my cooking partner (she also has some knowledge on the process of jam concoction, so choosing her was a wise choice, if I do say so myself).
I had the great idea to make three kinds: red raspberry (because I know so many people who love it), strawberry (because I love it), and triple berry (because mom had suggested a berry medley).
I purchased a dozen small jars and all sorts of frozen fruit, the necessary pectin (which makes the jam part), and we commenced jam activities around 10:30 on Saturday. What I forgot was two extra bags of sugar (do you know how much sugar it takes for jam? Okay, don't ask.) and I lacked the mental capacity to realize that I had far too many ingredients for twelve small jars.
The first batch of raspberry jam not only caused a great mess, actually forming small burns on my arms from the popping and boiling magma on the stove, but it also filled EIGHT jars. We had only four left! mom descended to the basement and emerged with at least twice as many jars as I had bought. We filled them all.
Our triple berry (black, blue, and rasp) turned into quadruple when we found we needed to add more fruit and dumped in the leftover strawberries. I do believe that it turned out to be my favorite.
If anyone is in need of jam, look me up. I have enough to last me at least three years, I think.
Mom snapped some photos to document the immensity of our end product. She captured some great perspectives here. Well done!
I spent my fall break (which was merely one day) in the grand city of Chicago visiting my favorite Elaine.
She had promised coffee shops and time for relaxing and reading, movies and meeting her fiance. She'd also hinted at my birthday present, but all she said was "it's somewhat of a process," and "it's an experience."
If anyone knows a thing about me, you know that I'm not one for surprises. I like to plan; I like to know; and I like to be in control. When someone I love tells me that they have a surprise for me that is a process, I can't even begin to fathom what that would be. I immediately break out in cold sweats.
But as it's Elaine, I had nothing to worry about. She knows me, better than anyone really, and I am quite sure she would not give me a present that I hate.
The process was: jam-making. We made jam. We may have even let slip...we be jammin'.
We made strawberry and raspberry on Friday and had so much fun that we returned to the kitchen Saturday to make pomegranate. The raspberry is delicious, and I have yet to try the strawberry, but honestly, how could that go wrong? The pomegranate might be something that would be ideal with peanut butter, but by itself...it's a bit much for me. Overall, the experience was fantastic. I learned a new kitchen skill, one that is easy and impressive at the same time. I hope I never buy jam again. There's no need; it's so simple to make. Elaine found all her recipes on AllRecipes.com.
She also gave me these pillow cases (look how perfect they are, friend! Thank you!).
I hope that she can visit me sometime in Upland, although, I must admit, we're pretty much guaranteed a better time in Chicago. However, we do have our fun little things to do here...Helping Hands, Mick's flea market, Gas City petting zoo, etc.
Thanks for such a fun and relaxing weekend, Elaine. I hope we can visit The Cheese Stands Alone again sometime. That 4-year Gouda was heavenly!
