Jammin'

Bright and early this morning, I got out Greyhair's 30 year old French canner and cooked up the huge bag of apricots we got at the Farmers' Market on Saturday. The fruit was nicer in quality that the batch I made 2 weeks ago and the result is 7 half pints of luscious apricot jam. Pure apricot jam.

One of the things we had to adjust when Greyhair was diagnosed with damn near every food allergy known to humankind was jams and jellies. Why, you say? Jams are just fruit and sugar, right? Not exactly. Most contain added pectin (contains dextrose, made from cornstarch) and many use our old friend high fructose corn syrup as the mode of sweetening.

Back in the day, I used to make jam and jelly, especially for my Dad who loved spiced peach jam and pomegranate jelly, but I hadn't for years. I got a new Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and a rack for the canner and away I went. In February, I took the Meyer lemon crop and made Meyer Lemon Marmalade with vanilla bean and it was delish. Last month, I made two different batches of strawberry jam because it is Greyhair's favorite, so we should be set until next year when the Meyer lemons are ready again. Of course, I could be tempted by the blueberries and boysenberries that are just coming in.....

So, as my former sister-in-law, who taught me how to make preserves once said, "Just like the old days, a cup of fruit to a cup of sugar and cook it all day." Not quite, but close. Fresh fruit and pure cane sugar (C & H of course) and a few hours over the stove.

Now to make some toast!