Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Cleaning out the Freezer Challenge Jam or Where did I Find my Thrill?

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you might remember last Friday, when I picked up this flat of fresh NJ blueberries at Shop-Rite. They ended up costing me $2.99 total. That's 6 pints!
Blueberries are hubby's most-est favorite fruit.
But what happens when hubby eats 1 pint and you have to do something with the other 5 before they start going bad?
You make BLUEBERRY JAM!
I used this jam making session as an opportunity to "Clean the Freezer" too.
I had an opened/parital bag of frozen Organic Blueberries, as well as what was left from the wild Maine blueberries I had obtained on our summer vacation to Maine last year.

I mixed 2 pints of the new berries with those 2 bags of frozen berries and a bit of sugar. Boiled the whole mix down.....



Voici! Blueberry Jam.
There isn't enough to can so this large batch is headed for the fridge and will adorn many slices of toast, bagels, English muffins or peanut butter sammiches.

Making jam is pretty easy. It's not jelly so you don't have to strain it, just skim off the foam that appears when it first starts boiling.
No special equipment except a pot, and no special cooking skills needed. Just fruit and a little sugar, simple and tasty.

This batch took awhile to boil down....notice all the blue ice crystals from the store bought frozen berries. All that water had to boil off so it took that much longer to cook it down to jam consistency.
Since it's not being canned, you don't need pectin or to water bath process this. You could also put 'fridge jam' into the freezer if you don't think you'll eat it all within a month.

I still had 3 pints of fresh berries to tuck away as is, into the freezer for later.....almost 3 pints. I did have to put a handful aside to mix into my yogurt in the morning. Mmmmm....

Be sure and grab some fresh Blueberries while they are in season & the price is reasonable!

Sluggy

1 comment:

  1. My mouth watered looking at that gorgeous bowl of blueberry goodness!

    Sometimes I like a bit of lemon juice or rind and a little cinnamon in with my blueberries. Try it and see if you do too!

    ReplyDelete

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