Is there anything more delicious than fresh, homemade bread, warm from the oven? Maybe fresh, homemade bread warm from the oven with a little butter and some homemade jam! Here's this afternoon's batch.
I recently made a batch of raspberry jam the
old fashioned way: Mix together equal
amounts of crushed fruit and sugar. Bring to a boil in a very large pot. Add a
lump of butter to keep it from forming too much foam. Boil briskly for about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, set clean jars in the sink,
fill them with boiling water. Place enough
canning lids in a pan and cover them with
very hot water.
Stir the jam often with a wooden spoon
to keep it from sticking to the edge
of the pot.
After 20 minutes, pour a little of the
hot jam onto a saucer and put into
the fridge for about 2 minutes.
Take it out and see if it has begun
to jell. If it runs too fast, boil it
another five minutes and try
again.
If it seems to run rather slowly, take the
pot to the sink, place a hot, drained
jar on a towel beside it. Ladle in the
jam to within a half inch of the top.
Put a warm lid on the jar and screw
the ring on tightly.
Place the filled jars on a pad oftwo towels to protect the counter
top. Place them about 3 to 4 inches
apart to help with the cooling. Sit
back and listen for the lids to
snap shut.
Enjoy your jam with homemade bread,
on ice cream, as a topping with yogurt,
pancakes, waffles, cheesecake, etc.
This jam will not be as stiff as commercial jam, but will have oodles more flavour!
