The girls have been helping me with jam and canning the last couple of years, but this was the first year where I really stepped back and just kept an eye on things. Which meant I got to take pictures of the process.
I follow the instructions from Bernardin, the Canadian answer to the Ball Company. I use regular pectin and white sugar. I know, I know. But remember that I’m fulfilling two purposes today – I’m stocking my larder with homemade jam for the winter, but I’m also training my girls to be able to this themselves, someday for their own larders. I want guaranteed success at this stage, not the up and down results of experimentation. And some of what they learned today made them ask questions about the ingredients. Hands on is the best way to learn.
Washed berries
taking turns mashing the berries
Really, they love each other
Wow Mum, there’s a lot of sugar in jam! Yup…
Rolling boil for a full minute, are you serious?
Does finger tight mean your fingers or mine?
Science at work, creating a vacuum
10 jars of jam, 1 didn’t seal, guess we’ll just have to eat it!
Sailors Small Farm 
Looks delicious and a valuable lesson all the way around!
We just turn them upside down to seal and skip the bath when making jam. Good times.
Yup. There’s a lot of sugar in jam.
I can’t wait until I can let my girls loose in the kitchen and they are PROductive rather than DEstructive!
lol 🙂 I was where you are once…
[…] may remember that we had a big jam and jelly making session a few weeks ago. One jar each of strawberry jam and raspberry jelly didn’t seal, so I put them in the fridge […]
Looks like a lot of fun was had, and there’s nothing like the satisfaction of those jars ready to go into your pantry or larder. What a great thing for you and your girls! I really recommend Mary Anne Dragan’s book on canning, Well Preserved: Small Batch Preserving for the New Cook. No pectin needed and the recipes are wonderful. Very easy to follow (I was a totally novice canner).
My library has the book, I will have to investigate – thanks!
Enjoy! We absolutely love her recipe for apple marmalade.