We are in the midst of summer fruit season - finally! Here in the Deep North, we have a very short growing window, although the Twin Cities’ agricultural zone did shift up recently thanks to climate change. Our CSA box had strawberries the last couple of weeks and then that’s it for the season. Being a person who is dedicated to eating locally as much as possible, it means that there is often a short window to enjoy foods! It makes it easy to indulge and eat as many strawberries as my heart desires. Do I occasionally grab some non-local fruit from a typical grocery store? Of course. But in the peak season for fruits, this is the time to buy a lot of it locally and if you want to preserve it for future use, many people turn to canning them!
I have never dabbled in canning because the risk of botulism scares me. One day I will tap into my the ancestral skills of grandmothers past and give it a try but for now I’m content with buying a jar or two when I need it. I love a slice of homemade bread slathered with butter, and dolloped with the sweet tastes of summer.
As a kiddo, we were a big Smucker’s family, the infamous red and white gingham lid is burned into my brain forever. A huge thrill as a kiddo was getting toast at a diner and getting to thumb through the jam options! I would feel so guilty about opening a lil rectangle of gelled up fruity goodness and not using all of it but I wanted to try all the flavors so I would slather an obscenely thick layer of the jelly on each triangle of toast to savor blueberry, orange marmalade, cherry, and grape jams. As far as I knew, that was heaven.
I’ve swapped out Smucker’s for Bonne Maman as my go-to jam brand, and will definitely grab a jar of homemade jam whenever I can get a hold of one. I love jam so much that I have done the Bonne Maman advent calendar for two years, and it is one of the biggest joys of my year! The flavors range from the classics (strawberry rhubarb & cherry) to the tropical and special (fig cardamom, lemon yuzu, & pineapple ginger) to the experimental (banana cacao & pear cocoa nibs). Plus, the tiny jars are so cute and the perfect size for covering the surface of two halves of a toasted English muffin. If you’re curious about my thoughts about each flavor, I cataloged daily “Jamvent” videos on my TikTok. I highly recommend snagging one at World Market or ordering online for this year’s holiday season!
A Tiny Info Dump
My north star when it comes to learning about things like this is the University of Minnesota Extension website. I love their agricultural site for gardening so of course their preserving page is a 10/10. When you make jam, preserves, or marmalade, you are using sugar to preserve the fruit.
Jams have a thick consistency and are made from crushed or ground fruit.
Jellies are semisolid and are made of fruit juice and sugar, so it is usually a clearer substance than the others.
Marmalade is a jelly with fruit suspended in the jelly, and the fruit is usually citrus peel and juice based.
Preserves are a thick sugar syrup that has whole fruit or small parts of fruit in it.
To make jams, marmalade, and preserves you’ll need fruit, pectin (which helps things thicken up), acid, and sugar. All fruits contain some pectin, and for the fruits that have little pectin (blueberries, strawberries, cherries, or huckleberries), you can use powdered or liquid pectin, or combine them with fruits that have higher pectin (apples, crabapples, gooseberries, citrus peel). To keep the jams, marmalade, and preserves from being too sweet, you will need to use acid, like citrus fruit juice. For jellies you’ll need fruit juice, pectin, acid, and sugar.
An important step in making these lil sweeties is to test for pectin before jarring up your goods! This video shows that you can put a teaspoon of hot jam on a chilled plate and then freeze it for 2 minutes. After that, drag your finger through the jam and if your finger leaves a trail through the jam, it is ready to be jarred. It will be the right consistency once it sets. If the jam is still runny, cook the jam for 1-2 more minutes and then test again.
Honestly just writing this is making me feel more confident in trying to make something later in the summer!
Comment below and let me know if you’ve ever made jam, jelly, preserves, or marmalade. I need to hear some success stories!
Things I Like
Working with people you admire! I’ve been so lucky to have two artists I’ve followed online (and internet befriended!) agree to work with me on the cookbook shop. They are much cooler than me, and have implemented my vision perfectly. You can find their work here and here.
New headshots that Pearl (of On the Shelf Studio) took of me!
Snack lunch plates forever!
This gorgeous daylist that the Spotify robots/algorithm fed me:
May your week be gentle and may you eat well. 🌲🥣
I love, love, love those professional photos, Melissa ~ absolutely gorgeous! I actually wrote about jam this week too, must be the season ;-) I just always make the Sure-Jell freezer jam recipe so I don't have to worry about the botulism scariness - it lasts FOREVER and is super easy!
thank you Katy! i’m so pleased with how they came out 😍 okay that is good to know about the Sure-Jell recipe!!