Tradition

Every summer I make jam with my mom.  I love it.  Usually we bottle tomatoes too, and I like that, but its not quite the same as the jam.  Not that we use jam all that often in the Ence fam-- Ruby is too young to want PB&J's-- but I do about everything I can to avoid buying the store bought kind.

Problem is, the kind we make is the freezer kind.  And it turns out, that doesn't move state to state very well.  So I was forced to give up all the jam I had stocked away in our Utah freezer and start new.

I was sad my mom wasn't here to make it with me, but was happy to have Ruby's company so the mother-daughter tradition could continue.  And now we have jam again, thank goodness!

***Quick and Easy Freezer Jam***

Red Raspberry

3 cups crushed berries

5 1/4 cups sugar

1 box prepared pectin 

(I usually use the yellow box of Sure Jell)

Strawberry

2 cups crushed strawberries

4 cups sugar

1 box prepared pectin

Crush Fruit and mix fruit and sugar well (exact amounts are critical!)  Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir 1 box pectin and 3/4 cup water in small saucepan.  Bring to boil on high heat.  Stir constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir pectin mixture into fruit mixture.  Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy (about three minutes).  Pour into prepared containers leaving about 1/2 inch space at top for expansion during freezing.  Cover.  Let stand at room temperature twenty four hours until set.