A little over a month ago, I got myself pumped for summer (and distracted from leaving Japan!) by making a summer bucket list. I tried to put a lot of fun, doable things on it, and so I’ve already made a lot of progress while enjoying every bit of it! One fun thing that I got to cross off my list was making jam.
I decided to make a Strawberry Rhubarb jam that I found (full recipe, here) as my first jam ever. Although I was nervous, it looked pretty simple as long as you can follow the instructions! I started by dicing up the rhubarb, mashing some strawberries, and adding lemon juice and fruit pectin. (My jars were already washed and starting to sterilize at that time.)
Then I put the ingredients in a pot and started adding sugar one cup at a time as each cup dissolved. In the tutorial, the girl said 8 cups was more than enough even though the original recipe she used called for 10, and she was definitely right! My jam was quite sweet in the end.
Once the jam had thickened, it was time to ladle it into a funnel and into the jars, to ensure the rims were clean before sealing the jars, to sterilize the jars one more time, and to put them out to set and seal fully.
Found this foxy little lady on an ad to make my request: Please don’t touch!
Then it was just time to wait for the lids to seal. I only heard the ting of one lid, but I left home for a while and I think the others must have popped while I was gone because–they all sealed! Yippee! Success!!
There was some extra jam that couldn’t fit in the jars, so I put it in a warmed glass cup to store in the fridge. But, not before trying a little out on a wheat English muffin! I was so pleased to have made a very delicious batch of jam. Now the key will be not getting too addicted to making jams! I’m thinking of trying out a pineapple mango one next.
What are your favorite jams?
Little Snail 
oooh! that looks delicious. I sure hope there’s a jar there for me to mix with greek yogurt! and I’ve been wanting to make this for a while:http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/jam/monkey-butter.html. maybe you and I could do that sometime.
I’ll bring some tomorrow when I pick up my mom 🙂 The link you posted doesn’t work! 😱
oh no! well it’s a tropical type jam that’s made of banana, crushed pineapple and coconut. i might see if my mom has time to do it with me or i might do it myself or maybe you and i could do it like i previously said.
I found your pin on pinterest and was able to look at the recipe! Looks pretty good!! I think I’m going to pick up some more jars to make the pineapple mango one next week 🙂 The jam jars were a little small though, so I think I’m going to use bigger jars for my next batch!