summer jams

While DanO and I sit here on this beautiful summer evening, him watching the History Channel and the educational programming thereof, me feeling the stabs, jabs and pokes of Nugget, it feels like a good setting for some candor:

I paid way too much for something in order to feel good about myself.

No, not that.

Or that.

Better.

I made Raspberry jam.

I know, I know, so pathetically Suzie Homemaker of me. Especially when you know that, well, it wasn’t any cheaper than buying it ready made. DanO did the math really quick with the grocery bill, and this was definitely not the economical way to do things. Like¬† I said though, I did this to feel good about myself, and who am I to put a price tag on that? The best part: it totally worked.

“Hi, I make homemade jam. Nice to meet you.”

See what I mean?

It may not be a jewel on my eternal crown, but it still gives me warm fuzzies to look at those Kerr jars all lined up on my counter announcing “Allison rocks at all things domestic!”. Now they just need circles of adorable fabric covering the lid and held in place by tied raffia.

I’m sorry, I know I’m about to lose some of you because of the gag reflex stimulation I’m dishing out, so I’ll stop.

Really, my point here is this: it wasn’t cheap, but it was really, REALLY easy. So easy that now that I’ve made it and know just how simple it is, I ought to feel less accomplished – less proud of myself. It wasn’t actually money saving and it was ridiculously easy. There is nothing to be happy about here.

“Hello. Yes, I spent my afternoon canning jams made from scratch.”

Nope, that still feels pretty dang good.

There are 5 steps to being able to make that self-promoting statement. A really easy 5 steps.

1. Smash 6 to 7 cups of raspberries with a potato masher, pastry blender (shown here) or food processor, making approx. 3 cups of raspberry goo.

2. Mix in 7 1/4 cups of granulated sugar to create a sweet, sticky raspberry goo (taste some).

3. In a small sauce pan, bring 3/4 cup water and 1 pkg. (1 3/4 oz) SureJell fruit pectin to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue to stir constantly while it boils for 1 minute. Whatever you do, don’t put down the spatula in order to take a picture for your blog. It says ‘stir constantly‘ for heaven’s sake.

4. Pour pectin over berry goo and mix together for 3 minutes. Mental note: metal mixing bowl reflections do not do good things for cankles. Yikes.

5. Immediately spoon into jars, leaving 1/2 inch of air at the top. Let them sit for 24 hours before freezing.

See how easily the illusion of domestic goddess-hood can be achieved?

Here’s the abbreviated version, in case it wasn’t clear just how easy this is: smoosh, sweeten (taste), simmer, stir, store.

Get it? Got it? Good.

I got just over 4 pints of jam out of this recipe, enough to freeze and use well into the winter. Hopefully the warm fuzzies I get from looking at these jars last me that long as well.

“Here, try this jam I made last summer.”

Yep. Totally worth it.