I <3 Raspberries
Summer is such a diverse time for me – especially this summer! It seems like I keep hopping from one thing to the next. It’s contained a lot of celebrating – the 4th of July, my Dad’s birthday, Jeremy & I’s wedding anniversary. Then I’m in full on VBA (Vacation Bible Adventure) prep mode and my head is totally at work. We have furniture for the baby’s room stocking up and Jeremy bought paint for the nursery. One evening we headed over to his parent’s house to help them pick berries and I’m learned how to make jam for the first time. The next day I’m visiting a friend up north to have lunch and the day after that I’m in a 6-hour childbirth class… Work, family, friends, cooking, baby… Hop, hop, hop!
While I have many topics to write about in the near future (baby updates, VBA updates, my 400th blog post!), today is going to briefly highlight making jam for the first time! Jeremy’s parents have been visiting family and asked us to pick some of their raspberries while they were gone. They had a ton of berries so they told us to take a few for ourselves as well. I was amazed at how many berries they had and even after picking a generous amount for them, we were able to have enough to make some jam for ourselves. Picking the berries reminded me of my own childhood. My neighbor had a bunch of raspberry bushes that us kids would attack every summer. So good! I love picking them right off the bush and popping them into my mouth!
My hubby is so much more domestic than me! Really, he is a whiz in the kitchen. He’s been making jam and salsa the last couple of years and I just let that be his “thing”. I never really dropped in or offered to help. This year he let me be a part of the whole process! When we got home, I cleaned the raspberries and mashed them up! I added the lemon juice and the pectin and the sugar. I watched things boil and even got a chance to pour the jam into the jars! Jeremy helped me by sterilizing the jars and helping me move the funnel from jar to jar. He also lowered the full jars into the boiling water so they can could set or whatever the official canning term is! I don’t really know!
It was a lot of fun working alongside my hubby and he was very patient with me as I asked questions. I view jam making as so 1950’s even though a lot of people do it today. It love the feeling that I’m doing something that people have done for a long time. It’s like passing on a legacy or something. It just feels special. It was also fun to see the whole process from berry picking to the jar! There is something satisfying about knowing we made this jam! It might seem silly, but it was a highlight of my week!
I used to view jam making as something complicated and kind of a scary, but I’m here to encourage you to try it! It’s not as hard as it seems and I’m glad I learned! Thanks, Jeremy! You’re a good teacher!
Amy Scott's Thoughts 