Blackberry Jam!

I took the kids to a blackberry/blueberry picking farm today. We had our milk jug buckets and started picking our little hearts out. We came home with three gallons of blackberries and one gallon of blueberries. I usually go to my mom's during the summer and pick her wild blackberries, but this summer with Reid's scout camp and the beach trip, there just wasn't going to be a good weekend. Plus her berries come in a little later than ours do, so they're not ready this week (when I could have gone)... or is it that the green beans wouldn't be ready? I want to do green beans, too, so it just wasn't working out for timing. So... the plan is that Mom is going to bring green beans here in a couple of weeks and she'll put up some jars of her blackberries and bring them here.

So why did I go pick blackberries? Well, Zach was really put out that he wasn't going to get to pick at grandma's house this summer. He's the only one of the boys who is interested in it and he loves to get out and pick when I'm picking at Mom's house. So, I didn't want to deprive him of that, so we all went this morning to pick.

And I made some blackberry jam! Here are some pictures!

Here are our three jugs of blackberries. And in case you can't tell... they're BIG.

See? Now... people will say that these large, cultivated ones lack the flavor of the smaller, wild berries. This is my first experience with non-wild blackberries, so I'll let you know what I think about it after I open a jar of jam. But so far, the flavor is fine. With the drought last year, my mom's berries were really tart. I thought it made great jam (that I'm still enjoying now).

Sorry for the sideways shot... I just wanted to show that my big canner fits down in the new sink! That is amazing! This canner is huge. Holds two stacks of pint jars. Man, I love my sink!

So first, you mush up the berries and add the "Sure-Jel" pectin packet. Bring that to a boil.

Put your clean jars in a warm oven to keep them hot and dry. (I don't know if this is a real recommended technique, but it works for me and my mom.)

Add a bunch of sugar! :) It's what makes it taste so yummy! (And see the pretty blueberries peeking in at the corner?)

See... Yummy! Gooey and yummy!

Then you fill your jars, put on lids and rings and...

Put them in the boiling water. This massive canner is a pressure canner. Jams and jellies only need a boil bath, so any big pot will do for that. I just like my canner, so I pull it out when I'm doing jam. Plus, I've got 25 lbs of black beans that I need to put up, so I need it to be out anyway. Anyway! You let the jars boil for about 5 minutes and pull them out and admire their beauty.

This is three batches. Then you get to listen to their little lids pop as they set up. Music to any canner's ears. Just a beautiful sound. And now I'm off to try my hand at some blackberry syrup and a blackberry cobbler for dessert tonight... I don't know if I'll be making dinner, but dessert's a given. :)