Initiation

Women and men have been canning and preserving and passing it on from generation to generation, and here I am, wanting to keep the home kitchen functioning. I wanted to Jam this year. Little did I know exactly what went into Jamming. My kitchen was hot to start with, but huge pots of water boiling for hours, standing over a hot stove with hot boiling sweetness bubbling and spattering everywhere (arms, stove, cupboards, salt dish, pepper grinder...all splatter-painted with jam) all add up to delicious jam and a sauna in your own home. My calves were sweating. Flipping hot, and worth every drop of sweat.

When I think of canning, I think of my grandma Donna. In the basement of her house there was a small storage room where I remember seeing rows and shelves of her canned goods, ranging from pickles to soups. She had a garden in the backyard where I remember falling in love with cherry tomatoes and the way they popped and exploded in your mouth with the first bite. As a child, I never witnessed the process from garden to kitchen to mason jar, but it was a part of my grandma that I always knew. So last summer when I canned Bread-and-Butter pickles, I was so proud. Jars lined my cupboard and I put them there. When Kyle and I made Apple Butter and gave it away in gift baskets for the holidays, again, so proud.


This year was my first year of Jamming at home. I bought blueberries direct from the grower through the food co-op and thought about recipe ideas. I knew I wanted to make a blueberry habanero jam, but I wanted to wait for my peppers in my garden to be ripe (schucks...I'll have to get another case of blueberries...). Then I had an idea for blueberry champagne jam. I love putting frozen blueberries in my white wine on hot evenings, so there HAS to be a way to can that flavor, right? Right.

Blueberry Champagne Jam (yield 10 .5 pt jars)

8c fresh Blueberries

2c dry Champagne

4c sugar

1/2c lemon juice

1 packet Sure-Jel pectin

Put blueberries and 1c champagne in a large pot. Cook on low heat until it comes to a simmer, about 30 minutes, mashing berries as you stir. Add sugar and lemon juice. Bring up to a boil. Add pectin when mixture is at a full boil. Boil for 1 minute. Turn off heat. Add remaining 1c champagne, stirring until bubbles have subsided. Skim foam as best you can.

Using sterilized jars and hot water bath canning method, process for 10 minutes. The Joy of Cooking has great instruction and insight into canning/processing, or there are tons of places online to read about safe and proper canning.

Jam will take a few days to fully set in the jars.

When I was at the store getting jars and pectin for my blueberry jam, I knew there was a reason for me to be in that store at that moment in time. Raspberries were on sale. Huge sale. So my night just got longer...Another batch of jam! I went for the straight-up raspberry jam. Classic, seedy, and one of my favorites.

Simply Raspberry Jam (yield 8 .5 pt jars)

7c mashed raspberries (measured after mashing)

5 1/4c sugar

Wash and dry the berries before mashing.  Place crushed berries in a large pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Add sugar to hot berries. Raise heat to High and stir constantly until mixture reaches a full boil. Keeping the full rolling boil, continue to stir until temperature reaches 215-220°F. Remove from heat. Skim foam as best you can.

Using sterilized jars and hot water bath canning method, process for 10 minutes. The Joy of Cooking has great instruction and insight into canning/processing, or there are tons of places online to read about safe and proper canning.

During the Jamming process, I was burned, yelped out loud, sweated half of my body weight away, made a huge mess, and heated my entire apartment to at least 100°F in the middle of July. As tough as it was, I found no right to complain. Generations before me have done this to the admiration and appreciation of many. Canning your own food is more sustainable and healthful than buying jams and other jars at the grocery store, and it is immensely satisfying. I felt like I was officially part of the Kitchenly-Able Club that so many before me are in, but few are joining today. Bam. I am high-fiving Donna through a mason jar filled with fruit. Initiation: worth it.