The Fruits of Our Labor...Blackberry Jam!

Let me just begin by saying I have been telling myself I need to sit down and blog for at least a week now.  I can't always speak for my seester T, but this time I can say that we have both been super busy lately.  Not a bad busy, just busy with life...children...school starting...etc.  I finally am kicking myself in the batootie today to sit down and write.

Growing up, our Mom and Grandpa used to take us "berry picking".  We would put on some grubby clothes, take a plastic bucket and set off on an adventure.  We knew that when we got home we would turn the "fruits of our labor" into some kind of wonderful pie, cobbler or jam.  The very street that we grew up on had a logging road at the foot of it, and you could walk down a dirt trail to a large blackberry patch just minutes away from our childhood home.  We would load up on the luscious, dusty berries (take note that there were a few times we got dusted out by the logging trucks rumbling by while picking) to bring home and whip up some deliciousness.



This is the type of adventure that I believe should be carried on. It seems like many children don't have the opportunity to feel how rewarding it can be to experience these simple things.  Not only spending quality time with your friends & family but to also feel the sense of accomplishment.  Filling your bucket and making something out of your treasure, in this case, the berries. 

About six weeks ago, I decided to take our children berry picking at a place called "Apple Hill". Apple Hill is about twenty minutes from our home. For those of you who aren't aware of this location, it is truly a beautiful spot located in the mountains and we are beyond lucky to have it nearby. All year round there are fruits and vegetables growing, wine tasting, Christmas tree farms, and during my favorite time of year Fall...there are many pumpkin patches, corn mazes and other seasonal events!  The place we went berry picking is called "Patricks Berry Farm".  They grow hundreds of berry bushes for their customers to come and pick.  You have to pay by the pound for these berries, and I assure you it is worth the experience!  They grow a variety of blackberries including the biggest I have ever seen, called "Triple Crown".  These berries were the bomdiggity and we loaded up on them to bring home.



The first day we picked our berries, we washed them up and baked a blackberry pie.  The remainder of the berries were bagged up in freezer bags, to save for a later date.

Little did I know, that the "later date" was last week.  While taking our son to school I got a wild hair to make blackberry jam.  I had spoken with our Mom the day before and she had mentioned something about making jam, and that planted the seed.  After our daughter V and I dropped Z off at school, we went to Walmart to gather up the appropriate jam making supplies.  I had never made jam on my own before, and I envisioned a magical experience.  Making these adorable little jars of jam, complete with a pretty fabric under the lid for decoration of course, and passing them out as gifts to friends and family.  I love seeing something as simple as a bowl of berries turn into something as delicious as jam to spread on toast, pancakes or make thumbprint cookies.  (If you haven't noticed already I am a bit of a romantic foodie.  One of the simple things I love in life is to bake or cook a new recipe and share it with others)

My partner in crime, V, and I rushed home from Walmart with good intentions to have a jam making day.  Truth be told, I procrastinated for the first several hours because I was scared of making this magical jam, and to be honest procrastinating is one of my faults.  I chop it up to working well "under pressure".  Dumb, I know, but after reading the recipe online I was intimidated.  What could go wrong?  Was I going to do this right?  After several calls to our Mom throughout the morning, I decided to jump in head first. 

I began by boiling the jars and lids to make sure they were sterilized.  I only have one large stock pot, so I heated up water and stored the clean jars in my crockpot.  It's oversized, and ghetto or not, it worked. I kept the lids in hot water on the stovetop to keep them warm. 

I pre-measured the sugar and set it aside on the counter.  I might mention at this point, I was pleasantly suprised at how few ingredients jam takes but shocked at the amount of sugar that goes into this treat.

I smashed the berries, and boiled them with the pectin as instructed on the recipe and began filling the jars.  (I might be missing a few steps during this recollection but bear with me) At this point my ridiculous cooking anxiety set in again and I called my Mom. "MOM!  What if I mess it up?"  I was concerned my jars wouldn't seal.  I mentioned to her I thought the recipe was going to make more jam than it appeared and what could have gone wrong?  At that point I tasted a sample on my finger.  It didn't taste very sweet?  OMG!  I looked over by the toaster oven where I had carefully set the pre-measured sugar bowl.  It hit me, I FORGOT TO ADD THE SUGAR!  I panicked and told Mom I would call her back.  I threw everything out of the jars and into my boiling pot again, mixed in the sugar and re-filled the jars for the second time.  There.  These little jars of jam had to turn out.  But inside, I was concerned.  Had I just messed them up? 

I called our Mom back and she assured me to be patient for the jars to seal or "pop".  I felt like I was waiting to go into labor or something.  I waited, and I checked the jars.  I waited and watched. Watched and waited.  To make a long story short, my jam jars didn't seal.  I am not sure what went wrong, it could've been the timing with the sugar incident or?

The next day I went out and bought new lids to "reprocess" the jars in hopes that they would seal.  Once again, I boiled the lids, made sure the top of each jar was clean of any jam debris.  I scooped out the excess in any of the jars that seemed to be overfull, because I had read online that a number of these things could've been the culprit of why the jars didn't seal. 

I did everything I could do to try and get these babies to seal, and it was a no-go.  So the jars went into the fridge to be eaten immediately, and I shared a few with friends and a neighbor.  Much less glamorous delivery than I had imagined explaining, "My jam jars didn't seal, so here is some homemade jam for you.  Make sure you put it in your fridge and eat immediately."  Our house has been eating  pb & j sandwiches daily to try and eat up the jam.  The bonus, it tastes amazing.  We just have an over-abundance of it...things could be worse.

What did I learn from this crazy jam making debaucle?  I am more determined than ever to make it now.   I had fun getting all of the supplies ready and I now have them for next time.  I had a fantastic, memory making day with our children picking the berries...and I can't wait to try again another day this Fall.  I will conquer this task and take on the next foodie adventure in B's kitchen!

Please share if you have any good canning, jam making tips...I can use them!

Until then,

Embrace Your Sparkle!

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