Okay, remember when I posted about the jam I made? Well I am finally posting the recipe:
Before the advent of refrigeration, home cooks made big batches of jam so their fruit would last longer. That meant “processing,” the time-consuming method of heating food in jars to kill the microorganisms that cause spoilage. Thankfully, times have changed: Our easy cheat relies on a regular skillet and much less sugar and it comes together in a jiffy. Store in the fridge; it will keep up to 3 weeks. (For fresh fruit jam year-round, pack into freezer-safe containers, leaving 1 inch of headspace, and freeze up to 1 year.)
RASPBERRY JAM:
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups raspberries 1 TBSP lemon juice
5 tsp. fruit pectin 1/2 tsp. butter or margarine
1/4 cup sugar
DIRECTIONS:
1) In 12-inch skillet, combine raspberries, lemon juice, pectin, and margarine. Heat to boiling on high, blending and mashing with potato masher or back of spoon; boil 1 minute. Stir in sugar; return to boiling. Boil jam 2 minutes longer, until syrupy, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Cool at room temperature 15 minutes.
2) Pour jam into two clean 1/2-pint jars with tight-fitting lids. Cover and refrigerate until jam is set and cold, about 8 hours. (Jam will thicken as it chills.) Keep jam refrigerated and use within 3 weeks. Or freeze and use within a year.
Strawberry jam:
Prepare raspberry jam in step one, but omit raspberries and add 3 cups, hulled and sliced strawberries. Increase lemon juice to 2 TBSP and increase pectin to 2 tablespoons. Complete recipe in step 2.