SUMMER TIME AND BERRIES AND JAM

We've been at it again - buying more berries from the farmers. The prices are just so great I can't resist them - and we will use a lot over the winter.

Two flats of strawberries - I always forget to take the pictures before I start cleaning the berries.

Strawberries in my favorite big yellow bowl - ready for the freezer. (and some for eating on ice cream)

Four flats of raspberries, total, went into the freezer. I freeze the berries in a flat layer on cookie pans and when they are frozen I bag them up into quart and gallon zipper bags.

Two flats of blueberries.

Two flats of black berries. Don't you love that name - Barbie's Berries.

Marion Berries- absolutely delicious!!

One flat of marion berries - this is the cookie pan with the last of the marion berries, on the left, and the blackberries, on the right, ready to go into the freezer. We picked the marion berries, all the others we bought the ones that were already picked. We are so fortunate to live near the berry farms - we get the flats of berries for just a small fraction of the cost of buying them in the stores - an average of 18.00 a flat - which is often 2 gallons to a flat.

MAKING JAM

One day it was cooler last week so Don and I decided to make some jam. He is on vacation last week and this week, so it was nice to have a jam assistant.

Raspberries, mashed, in my favorite big red bowl - ready for jam. I modify the jam recipe given on the sure-jell package. I use the specified amount of fruit - cut the sugar in half ( 5 cups of fruite - 3 cups of sugar, and use raw cane sugar) and put in 1 1 /2 boxes of sure-jell, and have perfect jam every time. I know they say not to change the recipe, but I just don't like 5 cups of fruit and 7 cups of sugar - you don't taste the fruit.

Don stirring the jam - notice his nice pink protective glove - saves his hands from jam spatters.

Rapsberry jam, standing on its head, helps to super-heat the lids and makes them seal faster. I just leave them that way for 5 minutes.

Add a batch of blackberry jam and we are done for the day - well except for wiping down the entire kitchen it seems. Jam does make a mess - but it is so worth it - our whole family loves jam on toast and pancakes!!!

We'll make more jam during the winter - and of course pies and more pies. One of our favorite pies is BumbleBerry Pie - blueberries, raspberries and blackberries - scrumptious!

May all your days be berries and cream days!