It all started mid-August when I read this {Introduction to Home Canning and Preserving} post on the Our Best Bites blog. I had never, ever canned before. Summer 2010 I did ONE batch of strawberry freezer jam, but that was the extent of my knowledge of pectin. My parents did some canning when I was younger and still do a little some summers. My grandma cans food. But I, like learning to sew, had no desire to learn how to can food.
Besides, I didn't think I could.
I had ZERO equipment.
No jars, lids or bands.
No canning utensils.
And, most importantly, no pressure canner!
But, wait! What was this??
As I read through the post I learned something I didn't know...
You can do waterbath canning.
Wait, what?!
Back that truck up....
I can attempt canning with just the huge stockpot we have out in the garage?
You've got to be kidding.
Nope.
Over the next several days I mulled this idea over in my head. Could I really add canning to my list of domestic skills? I mean, I already have a decent mastery of the kitchen. My cooking is better than OK. My baking is kinda well-known around these-here parts. Why not try [waterbath] canning?
And then my *brilliant* idea hit. I would can jam for everyone in our family! And not just a single jar or flavor. Oh, no! My brain doesn't work like that. I knew I wanted to do strawberry (everybody likes strawberry.) And personally, I fell in love with peach jam a couple years ago when my friend gave me some of theirs. And then I decided I needed to do blackberry or something that would be dark purple.
"Wouldn't that be pretty?" I asked my friends?
A red, strawberry jam. A golden, peach jam. And a deep purple, blackberry jam.
And I knew my friend Jenn (same Jenn mentioned in the sewing post) could cut some vinyl labels for the lids.
Of course, I specifically wanted the jam in the "quilted" canning jars. Picky, picky, I know!
And I decided to keep everything local to do a "Taste of the Pacific Northwest" - you know, just to make my first canning attempt a tad more difficult.
So my mind was made up!
Jam for everyone!!
HA!!
Let me remind you, all this *brilliance* struck me at the END of August. Aka end of or past berry season up here.
So I scrambled. I caught the tail-tail end of strawberry season and did my first couple batches of jam at the very beginning of September.
A little messy. A little stressful. A lot sticky. But surprisingly satisfying when all my lids sealed and I had a couple beautiful rows of strawberry jam.
Strawberries came from California, though, so I decided to make it a "Taste of the West Coast".
Then, in October, same Jenn says her bro-in-law can get some fresh peaches at a farm he drives past for work. Perfect!
So I caught the tail-end of WA peach season and busted out more-than-a-couple batches of peach jam.
Oh.My.Heavens. Peach jam is golden goodness. LOVE that stuff.
But, by then, I had also completely missed blackberry, blueberry, marionberry and you-name-it-berry season.
Hmm... What to do, what to do??
I couldn't just leave it at two flavors.
I had a vision in my head and I had to follow through!
So I called my good friend Danae (a canning queen!) and asked for advice. Could I maybe do frozen berries? I was thinking blueberry might be fun... Well, she suggested the mixed berry bag from Costco. Blackberry, raspberry and blueberry. Sounded good! But, I admit I was a little bummed to not get to follow through with my "Taste of the West Coast" idea.
Next time I was at Costco, I checked out the cost of the frozen mixed berries. Not bad at all. And I knew one bag would probably be enough. Curious, I checked to see where the berries come from... a farm in Washington!! Even though I felt like I was cheating by using frozen fruit, I could still keep my "Taste of the West Coast" idea!!
So my last round of jam-making was completed in November and the black-rasp-blue berry jam was just what I was looking for. Rich, berry taste and dark, purple color. Just what I wanted to round out my jam sets. Plus, I was starting to feel a little more confident with this whole waterbath canning thing.
Success!!
And the final product?? CA Strawberry, WA Peach and WA Black-Rasp-Blue Berry jams. Aren't they beautiful?! I felt really good following through with this. I learned a new skill, made Christmas gifts for everyone and some for our food storage as well. As an added bonus, these turned out exactly how I had envisioned them - complete with the cute vinyl labels on the top!
Each family got their own trio of jams and the great-grandparents and living-on-their-own, college-age sisters got dual-packs. A little taste of the West Coast. :)
1 comment:
They look so pretty together!
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