Ants for a day

Jam, I mean good jam, simple jam, is a beautiful thing. I love it, and I hope for your sake that you do too. I am not talking about Smuckers or some other gelatinous paste that you smother over Skippy, but real jam, the homemade kind.

Too be honest, my knowledge of jam is fairly limited, outside of my appreciation of it. Up until this past week the last time I made jam was with my mother at a time when I was barely old enough to see over the counter. Sure there have been episodes of stewing fruit for ice cream sundaes and the like, and making silly berry infusions, but classic jam preserves are mostly a thing of my past. Instead of making it, my jam (and most other preserves for that matter) have come trickling in from the rest of my family on an annual basis.

Looking around, however, I don't think that I am alone in my limited knowledge of jam. The art of preserving fruits and vegetables seems to have been largely given up by this generation of urban folk. We are no longer the ants busily preparing for winter, but the grasshoppers enjoying the spontaneity of play. I am not sure what, if anything, this says about the today's fast-paced lifestyle, but I do think-having recently done it with very little research-- that making jam is easy. It is also delicious. So if you like it, give making it a try. Here is a short time lapse of our efforts.