ch-ch-ch-cherries: making some jam, freezing for winter

cherries

Last weekend our local grocery store was selling bing cherries by the lug. I think it worked out to $1.98 a pound. We LOVE cherries around here and I jumped at the chance to get so many at such a great price.

After giving them a good wash, my daughter worked hard at removing all of the stems. I love that she’s old enough to be kitchen labor! I pitted and froze two cookie sheets worth, which filled a one gallon freezer bag. Then I pitted and chopped up four cups and made low-sugar jam. I tried to get away with no-sugar jam, but my family looked at me like I had three heads.

cherries

The rest? All gone. In our bellies. They were so incredibly tasty. Yay for cherry season!

notes: I used pectin made especially for low-sugar jam and followed the recipe on the label. I used these freezer jars instead of canning in a hot water bath. I also use this olive/cherry pitter because I’ve never been able to master the paper clip method. (all links except that last one take you to amazon.com)

homemade raspberry jam

homemade raspberry jam

Last night I made jam. Ooey, gooey, yummy in the tummy jam. It was so incredibly easy that I can’t believe I haven’t done this before.

I started out following the recipe in the Ball Blue Book , cutting ingredients by two-thirds because I only had three cups of fruit. On the first try, the fruit didn’t gel. Maybe I had let the berries get too ripe? I boiled again and added some powdered pectin. Still no luck. Tried one more boil and some more pectin and voilà! Jam!

Two containers are in the freezer. A half filled container is in the fridge. Now I just need to make something that needs jam. Maybe scones?

resources: Target has the Ball Blue Book in stores right now with the canning supplies. I also found this website helpful and followed this advice when my jam didn’t gel.