Blueberry Jam

I spent this 4th of July holiday making blueberry jam. The process started recently when I went blueberry picking with a friend at a nearby farm.

I've made jam a couple of times before, but always at my Mom's. (She could do this in her sleep!) So this was a big step for me, especially given that I seldom cook (tho I love to bake). I did engage Mom in a lengthy pre-jam-making phone consultation.

I don't have a top-secret recipe. I simply followed the instructions on the gelatin package, just like Mom whose jellies and jams always turn out great! Here are the blueberries as I stir in the pectin, then stir and stir and stir and stir. I think it's interesting how the berry juice turns bright pink as it cooks.

After stirring in the sugar and boiling hard for 1 minute I filled the jars, wiped the rims, and added the tops. The method I used for making jam included a 5-minute yoga pose (inversion) for the jam.

I had a little extra jam remaining after filling the jars, so I added it to my double-sided jam server (a treasure the DH picked up for me at the thrift store).

After about 45-minutes, I heard the longed-for sound of the tops popping. (Some of the tops will make a noise when the suction takes hold and pulls the seal down, tho not all will.)

And here is the finished product! Having sampled the extra (gobs of it), I can say that I'm very pleased with the product!

Oh, and where was the DH during this cooking adventure? After having answered my question about which pot to use, he smartly left the house! ;-) He is a wise man. He's the king of the kitchen and sometimes feels compelled to offer helpful tips - which I don't always want to hear in the midst of my cooking experiments. Preemptive evacuation was a smart choice. True love - knowing when to get out of the way! I'll reward him with a batch of his favorite jam, blackberry!