Jam, a love story

Jam. I’m currently in a jamming/canning phase. I’ve only made two batches so far, but I dream about all sorts of things to jam and can. If only I had an unlimited supply of canning jars and fresh produce…and time, too, I guess.

My love of canning goes all the way back to two weeks ago; when I stumbled across this blog. It makes you want to can pretty much everything you see.

My love for jam, however, goes back a bit farther. Back in college, my bestie and I spent a summer in northern Michigan. We were ice cream-scoopers by day, jammers by night. We had a freakishly strong right arm (because of all the scooping) which only helped us in our jamming ventures. We even created our own jamming company - We Be Jammin’. Although, it should be said that we gave away more jam than actually selling…but, hey, we had fun. We picked our own strawberries and blueberries and made delicious jams and preserves. Needless to say, it was a grand summer.

My first batch of jam this season was raspberry jam. I found these cute little jars – 4 oz. quilted Ball jars – and got to jamming. Then a couple days ago I made peach vanilla-bean jam. I’ve never used a real vanilla bean before, it was fun! I love seeing all the flecks of vanilla throughout the jam.

Photo from Food In Jars

I'm dying to try this Orange-Ginger Marmalade...yum. And then I want to attempt homemade pickles. Anyone know of a good recipe for either dill or bread and butter pickles?