Bumbleberry Jam
>> Sunday, July 10, 2011 –
food
A couple weeks ago, Dustin and I went to Downey's Farm to do some strawberry picking. I wasn't planning on blogging about our berry picking, or the first batch of strawberry jam I made using Ina's recipe, but after a little twist of fate, here is a blog post about jam.
I was first going to name this post "Freezer Jam" but that would be misleading. The term "Freezer Jam" refers to jams that are stored in containers that weren't sterilized for shelf life; you just keep the jam in the freezer.
The jam I want to share about involves all the berries in my freezer. The ones that I had been saving for a pie, maybe another batch of jam, maybe a milkshake. But as it turns out, Dustin and I left our freezer door just a teensy bit ajar and then left for a week of vacation.
We returned home to a melted freezer. Some items were beyond saving, but the soggy mess of berries were still a little chilled.
It was time to make jam.
In total, I had about 6 cups of strawberries, three cups of Saskatoon berries, and about two cups of cranberries. I added a finely diced apple for pectin, a squirt of lemon juice and about 4 cups of sugar. A low rolling boil until 220 degrees Fahrenheit and voila! Jam!
I guess that makes this a bumbleberry jam. I've only heard the term (meaning "mixed berry") used for pies, but I don't see why we can't use it for jam.
The jam was quite delicious. Deliciously tart. Perhaps it would be a good mix for a tart. With whipped cream. I bet this would be a delicious topping for a cheesecake as well.
So that's my story of leaving the freezer door ajar, and making a jar of jam.
When you bumble with the freezer and it's full of berries, make bumbleberry jam. It's one of life's well-known sayings and you followed it to a T!
Totally cute story, and I love the ending :)
cute. Are apples all you need for pectin? Interesting. I think we need to talk more about this.
There are so many arguments about pectin vs no pectin. Some say that we didn't use a package of pectin back in the day so why now? Others say that when you don't use pectin you boil for too long and lose the flavour and vitamins. I skip the pectin (mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to go get some) and throw the apple in to give it some hope of thickening up. And, let's face it, I copied Ina (my hero.) My jam usually turns out runnier than most, maybe because I don't add as much sugar as well. I don't mind the runnyness and like the simplicity of just throwing in an apple!