Ahhh, Jam

With both of my parents born and raised in New York City, I clearly come from city-folk.  There was no backyard farming, no animal raising, and no canning going on in my parent's home.  So last year when I made jam and canned for the very first time I was ridiculously excited.  And I was even more excited when the jam actually tasted good.  So excited in fact that two weeks later I attempted to make some more jam, only this time I used a recipe that didn't call for pectin and instead required you to find the "gelling point."

What I learned from that experience?  Pectin is my best friend...because I am apparently incapable of finding the elusive "gelling point."  Rather than making jam that day, I ended up making some mortar-like substance that could be used to construct buildings.  

So when it came time to make jam again this year, you can bet that my only requirement was that the recipe contain pectin.  In fact, both recipes that I used called for pectin because in the course of one afternoon I made two batches of jam (one strawberry and one strawberry rhubarb).

That's right, folks - I made 16 jars of jam in an afternoon.  I think I may need an intervention.