Bob Marley and I...

... we be jammin.'

Now that the stress of my test is over, I'm back to reviewing all the hard work I put in at harvest time this year. We have four different flavors of jam to look forward to: raspberry, blackberry, peach and apricot.

Notice the difference between these jars of homemade jam. (Well, besides the fact that one is blackberry and the other is raspberry.) As you can see, the blackberry jam was sealed differently than the raspberry. Rather than do a hot water bath to seal the jars, I simply poured the hot jam into the jars, put the lids on and then inverted them onto the lids. They sat out overnight upside down like that. Next morning, I flipped them back over, checked that each lid sealed and tucked them away in the cold storage room downstairs.

Kind of trippy, isn't it? Seeing the headspace at the bottom of the jar instead of the top.

So, all y'all who say you can't can because you don't have a canner? Well, that excuse won't fly around these parts. You could still make jam using the "invert" method.

Blackberry Jam (thanks to Sure Jell Pectin)
6 cup blackberries
1 each package powdered pectin
8 1/2 cup sugar

Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer's directions. To prepare fruit, sort and wash fully ripe berries; remove any stems or caps. Crush berries. If they are very seedy, put part or all of them through a sieve or food mill. To make jam, measure crushed berries into a kettle. Add pectin and stir well. Place on high heat and, stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full boil with bubbles over the entire surface. Add sugar, continue stirring, and heat again to a full bubbling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim. Fill hot jam immediately into hot, sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids.

To process the jam, either 1) place the jars into a water bath canner with boiling water. Make sure the jars are covered by at least one inch of water. Boil for 10 minutes. Then remove the jars from the canner and set them on the kitchen counter. As they cool, you will hear the lids "pop" indicating that the jar is sealed.

Or 2) immediately after adjusting the metal canning lids, turn the jars upside down on the counter and leave them for 12 hours.

Gifts from Old Faithful

My mother has lived in the same house since 1976. I was 14 when we moved there. In the back yard is an apricot tree. I don't know how old the house is, but it was probably around 10 years old when my parents bought it. That would make that tree close to 43 years old now. It has been quite a large tree for a very long time. Large enough for my mom and dad to put a toddler swing on one of its boughs so that my nieces could swing from its branches. Large enough to produce ample shade for family barbeques and backyard picnics. It had lights strung on it for my backyard wedding reception lo those many years ago. All in all, a wonderful family tree.

It has gotten a little crotchety in its old age. It still produces apricots. Bumper crops of apricots. But every now and then, it will take a year off. Not send out a single blossom. Not produce a single fruit. My mom never knows from one early spring to the next whether she will be handing out bags of apricots to her neighbors that year or not. We just wait for the tree to make up its mind. And we deal with the results either way.

Well, this year... a bumper crop again!!! Now, I am not an apricot person. I don't eat them raw. I don't like them in galettes or cakes. However... apricot jam... that's another story entirely. Especially my mom's apricot jam. Slather that baby all over a piece of toast and I am happy as a pig in mud.

We went home to Mom's during the summer and she graciously gave me four pints of her homemade apricot jam -- which I promptly left behind in all the hustle and bustle of packing the car for the return trip. Weeping. Wailing. Gnashing of teeth. But, lucky me, my dear dear friend traveled to my hometown last weekend. Mom sent up my abandoned (but not forgotten) pints of jam, as well as 30 empty quart canning jars (yeay Mom!) with my save-the-day friend.

Aren't these beautiful? Don't they just make you want to go find a loaf of bread and toast it all up? Or homemade dinner rolls? Yes, these jars are crying out for some Parkerhouse rolls.

My mom just uses the recipe she got off of the pectin box.

Apricot Jam
5 cups prepared fruit (about 3-1/2 lb. fully ripe apricots)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
7 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
1 box Fruit Pectin
1/2 tsp. butter or margarine

BRING boiling-water canner, half-full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling.

FINELY chop unpeeled apricots. Measure exactly 5 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot. Stir in lemon juice.

STIR pectin into prepared fruit in saucepot. Add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Bring to full rolling boil and boil 1 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)