Putting By

I love that phrase: "Putting by."  I love doing it.  I try to time it for a cooler morning, as standing over a hot stove in the middle of a heat wave makes me grumpy.  (I'd rather be at the beach, knitting, and watching children splash in the waves.)  We had a day like that this week.  So now we have some more jam (apricot and blueberry) put by for the cooler weather to come.   My jam is pretty basic.  I sometimes like to jazz it up, but with kids it's best not to risk it sometimes.  (They can be Picky!)  I think the jam is more versatile if it's more basic anyway.  Really taste the flavor of the fruit and nothing else.  Really, nothing else, as I don't add sugar -- I use the Bernardin pectin that just uses apple juice and NO SUGAR.

Can't wait for the blackberries to really start going crazy!  Nothing better than home-made jam in the middle of a snow storm.

Yummmm...