When you buy jam at the grocery store, the closest thing to the amazing homemade ones my Mémé & aunts made that I grew up eating in France are Bonne Maman.

Why would you ever take the time to make your own jam, when you can buy these delicious ones?  I agree.  I was always pretty realistic about making homemade everything.  Homemade pasta, homemade tortillas, homemade jam, homemade stock, etc, etc.  This takes up a lot of valuable time and the ones you can purchase for a couple of dollars at the grocery store are usually fantastic.  We’ve come a long way with choices in the store…all natural, fresh, organic, etc.  Why bother?

Well…

There is something so satisfying in picking the fruit you are planning to put into your jam.

And, there is such an enormous difference in taste between the store-bought and the homemade; you’d be shocked!  The berries you are using are at their freshest; just picked off the bush. And due to the difference between those watered down, gigantic, homogeneous strawberries at the store which have no flavor and the sweet, tiny, misshapen ones with an ant hole in it here or there have so much sweetness packed in, the jams are night and day.

Plus, there is a whole WORLD of types of jams you can make when you make your own.  There are berries out there that you’ve probably never heard of that are amazing in jam.  For me, the more sour the berry, the better tasting the jam.  The sugar you add to it makes it perfectly sweet and mouth-watering. And you can mix and match…ever make peach/raspberry crisp?  What about trying to make a peach/raspberry jam?  Yum!

Here’s how you make about 1 1/2 cups of your own homemade jam…

same weight sugar as berries

 

If you want to can it, this is super easy to do with jams.  Did I mention it was super easy?

Below is the link to the National Center for Home Food Preservation.  It is awesome!  It clues you in to everything to do with canning.  Check it out…

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html