Canning

So my incredibly infuriating sister informed me earlier this year that she believed it would be better for the world if we all exchanged handmade gifts for Christmas (she took the handmade pledge). Anyway, I thought she meant we were supposed to make, by hand, gifts for each other. Apparently she meant buy gifts somebody else made by hand. So I got to work thinking about what I could possibly make by hand. The obvious choice was to make cards but that seemed too easy since my mom and sister both make cards as well. Instead I decided to embark on a jam making journey.

First off I contacted Auntie (I like to think of her as the head of the family) and she promptly sent me a packet full of recipes and books on canning. I did however notice that her amazing applesauce recipe was not in that packet. damn. I then bought a canning pot and headed down to the local farmers market to pick up some fruit. I decided on raspberries and got to work. It was really fun and I ended up with raspberry juice all over my clothes, my face and my kitchen.

I was too scared to try it so I decorated a jar with some fabric and twine and gave it to my friend Lindsay with a warning that it may not taste good. She gave it to her husband to try with the pancakes at breakfast and he really liked it, so much so that I traded him another jar of jam for some jars of organic peanut butter! Which was awesome as MaraNatha can get spendy. (It's so worth it though!)