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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Jam Day..and Packaging...Five Ways

Monday was strawberry jam day here.  A day I LOVE... 'cause there's truly nothing like seeing a pantry full of homemade canned goodies...made with love...right here in my little kitchen.  I've been making jam for years...and while I'm not an expert...I've learned a bit about getting a great jam.  So...in addition to following all of the canning rules (and those rules are super important for the safety of you and your loved ones), I thought I'd share a bit of my own jam wisdom:
  • I use a modified Martha Stewart recipe...
  • I don't use pectin...you will definitely have a thinner jam, but that's just fine with me...and it's also fine with me that it takes a bit longer to cook...
  • I use less than half the sugar Martha's recipe calls for...typically I use 8 cups of sugar for 20 cups of berries...it may seem like a lot of sugar, but many recipes call for equal amounts of sugar and berries...
  • in deciding whether the jam is done I use the "if it stays put on the chilled plate it's done" method...
  • I don't add fresh lemon juice for brightness...it tastes just great without it, and it still looks like strawberries on my toast...
  • I pick up fresh berries on sale...year round...and clean and hull them and stick them in the freezer ...labeling the quantity on the bag...so, for today's jam I grabbed 3 huge bags...20 cups in each bag...
  • 20 cups of strawberries = 8 pints of jam...
  • okay...I think that's it...for now. 
I've blogged before about my love to gift homemade goodies, including jam...and this batch is different...so I made sure I mixed in a couple of these little cuties...4oz. jelly jars...and I couldn't stop with just one packaging idea...so there's four!


One...for the guy (or gal) who just wants to dig in and eat it by the spoonful...


one for anyone celebrating Mother's Day...


one with a sweet, gold embossed note...


and my favorite...one to enjoy if you love something a bit more elegant.


So..that's four, and the post title says five.  Here's five...


a fun tasting tag...super sized for a larger jar.  Bigger jar = more jam...and that's a good thing!

As always...check out the project supply list below, and...


Non Stampin' Up! Supplies:  Nestabilities Heart Dies, Papertrey Ink Tasting Tag Die and Wooden Tasting Spoons





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