smash and freeze

After enjoying both a citrus blackberry tart and a lovely batch of blackberry ice cream, we used the rest of the "pick your own" berries to make some freezer jam. Trying the "easy" pectin recipe (no cooking required) made it possible for the kids to help. The result is a juicier, thinner jam, but it was made with smaller hands and a cheerful heart-so runny seems somehow o.k.

what is your favorite jam recipe? Mine is actually not jam at all, it is jelly-black current jelly. My great grandma used to make it every year-and we lived near her so we got to enjoy her great labor of love. Many years after she'd left us I had the chance to try this jelly myself. We were living in Sweden and bushes of currents grew right outside our door. I called my grandma for the recipe. I cooked and strained and waited and worked. Each jar of jelly was carefully wrapped and transported from Sweden to the U.S. and enjoyed by my family. Those were the best preserves ever made in my opinion. A reminder of my Great Grandmother, a product of time in a country I loved only second to my own, and enjoyed by my Grandma, my mother and my siblings-not to mention my sweet husband and our children.

who knew all that could be jumbled up with some fruit, some sugar, a little time and a bunch of pectin?

try making some sweet memories-in the form of jam or jelly-this summer. In fact, if you live near me, you can come over on Tuesday and we can learn to make some together. See you then...