Jam!
Simmering on a stove
In a cast iron pot
In a cast iron pot
Is jam
Thick, tricky, jam
Jam that reminds you of the dress you stained
From holding berries too tight
Realizing your bucket never gets fuller
Red jam to spread on biscuits
Red jam to spread as a halo
Around your mouth
To lick from your fingers
Until there is only a sticky, sticky perfume
Summer is just around the bend, and I thought to myself, what is the first thing one thinks about when summer is here? Is it sleeping in? Doing as you please? The curling smoke from a barbecue? For me, I think of jam; it associated with fond memories, sweet scents, hours of trying to get stickiness off of arms and hands. While I personally love jam, I do not know how to make it. However, Marley knows how to make jam! If you find yourself with a plethora of strawberries this summer, or any time, make jam. Homemade jams are memories capped in a jar.
JAM!! I LOVE JAM!!
I have an assortment of nicknames: Goggles, Mars, Shorty, Bob. ((Pleeeease don't say my name is Bob. It's not. I am neither Bob, nor a dog. Thank you.)) But the nickname I adore the most is Marmalade! Which is also quick delicious. It isn't quite jam, but it's... it's still thick n' tricky! In any case, I'll write somethin' up about marmalade later, since this is about jam! Jam comes in many different shapes and sizes, and dolloped onto crackers is delicious. It's almost as delicious as peanutbutter, and anyone who knows me knows peanutbutter Is. My. Love.
One day I got a whoooole bunch of strawberries from the next door neighbors. Not a little basket full, but an entire tray worth of fat strawberries. To keep 'em from rotting since I couldn't fit them all in the fridge, I blended them up. I made strawberry milkshakes, strawberry ice-cream, and just plain strawberry goop. With this, I made jam! But how does one make the jellious jam in a jar?
Ingredients:
1.) Strawberries! Blended, chopped. It doesn't matter, just as long as you got enough. I made do with about three cups.
2.) Sugar. For every cup of strawberries you have, you're going to need one cup of sugar. However, when mixing it all together, I like to add a little less since I don't like my jam too sweet. I shave off an inch or two from my cups and it still comes out plenty sweet.
3.) Lemon juice. This is optional, but if you think your jam is a little sweet as you've nabbed a little nibble, a slurp from the spoon you've been mixing everything together, add a tablespoon or so of lemon until at a desired tartness. Not too much thought!
4.) Fruit Pectin. Pectin? What's pectin? This, my folks, my friends is the stuff that makes the jam jellify. You'll want about a tablespoon of the tart little powder to make your squashed sugar-fruit mass stick together.
Now, essentially what you gotta do is just get a pot, turn on the stove, mix the the strawberries and sugar together and while it's warming up to a rolling boil, ((I prefer to wait until it's at the boil.)) pour in the lemon juice and pectin. Stir and cook for ten or so minutes and take off the foamy parts on top afterwards. Fortunately, the foamy parts still makes good spready stuff.
Oh, and as a note, before you pour your jam into any jars, make sure the jars you're using are sterilized. Fruit is very prone to rotting and bacteria just adore sugar. I think you have to heat the jars AND lids up to about 255 degrees after washing them out to get them clean, but you'll have to make sure it's the right kind of glass for that. Glass, when undergoing quick temperature changes tends to shatter, folks! Though hopefully, cleaning it out in hot, hot water should do the trip. But to be safe, read the instructions on how to clean jars first. I think I just got lucky. :'D
Thick, tricky, homemade Marley Jam! Three of these sorts of jars were filled.
Jam is best stored in a cool place to avoid spoilage. I suppose my own fondness of jam has spawned because it is such a whimsical, magical food: Tea parties serve biscuits and jam, a child walks around with jam on her mouth, and the Queen of Hearts made some tarts all on a summer's day! I guess it's just a food I've never associated with unpleasant memories, save for the bees one is so terrified of as she outruns the buzzing beasts that is most likely attracted to the jam that has somehow managed to wind up on her nose. Even then, when eating jam, there seems to be no wicked memory. Atheistically pleasing to the eye and deliciously devourable on the tongue, jam just melts into a piece of bread making it sweet like the idea of jam melting into dreams.
And to finish, here is a picture of my cat Bridget with a sail boat on her. Her tummy is a vast fire ocean spun with monsters. Rawr!
