Kitchen

[Silkeej]

I use to make freezer jam it is so good, the colors are bright and it taste like fresh berries. I just followed the recipe on the pectin box and it turned out perfect everytime. Freezer jam is probably the easiest to make.  You just need to have freezer containers, pectin and lots of sugar and room in your freezer. Good luck it you decide to try it I think you will enjoy the end result.

[lork]

I've made jam/jelly for many years.  When our kids (4) were home they ate a ton of PBJ's and I made SandHill Plum Jelly by the quarts.  My DH can't do sugar these days, and my one attempt at sugar free homemade strawberry jam was such a disaster (molded quickly, was a poor consistency and the ingredients were expensive) I buy jelly for him.  I had completely run out of homemade jelly and just didn't get any made for months.  I was too cheap to buy a jar "just for me", when I knew I had a gallon of plum juice in the freezer, not to mention bags of homegrown strawberries out there.  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I cooked up that frozen plum juice. . . OH MY!!!!  I'd forgotten how good SandHill Plum Jelly is.  Homemade jam/jelly is kind of tricky to make (I always use commercial pectin), but it is soooo delicious and makes a welcome treat for lucky family/friends!

[vaberry]

I make a blackberry jam and add ground cinimon, ground cloves and ground nutmeg to use as a glaze for Christmas hams. I strain the seeds out it. 

[Pooky1]

in the last month my mother inlaw has made peach, orange , cherry. all are wonderful. and now she started  making home made tomato sause from garden tomatos.

[Mominohio]

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@Silkeej wrote:

I use to make freezer jam it is so good, the colors are bright and it taste like fresh berries. I just followed the recipe on the pectin box and it turned out perfect everytime. Freezer jam is probably the easiest to make.  You just need to have freezer containers, pectin and lots of sugar and room in your freezer. Good luck it you decide to try it I think you will enjoy the end result.

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Another vote for freezer jam. Much easier than 'regular' jam, and seems to keep color and flavor better, in my opinion. 

I make strawberry, stawberry and blueberry mixed, and peach jam, all from our own home grown fruit.

[dancingwoman]

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@Scooby Doo wrote:

When I was a kid I would go with my folks up into the canyons and we would pick chokecherries.  My mom would make jelly and syrup.  I loved that stuff.  I'd love to have some today, but I can't find any in the stores, and most of the bushes around here have been torn out to make way for highways.

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@Scooby Doo Our chokecherry bushes were loaded this year...my DH picked some before the birdies got to them..our "bush" is 12 feet tall so he needed the ladder...good thing he picked 3 1/2 pounds for the jelly as the birds had wiped out the rest of them the next day...there were thousands and thousands of berries on there this year..

The jelly came out good..it was my first attempt at chokecherry....I was afraid it wasn't gonna jell as a lot of people that try making it complain it won't jell...mine did but I did use pectin from the store...

DH loves it...DW

[Campion]

I buy MaMade orange marmalade mix because I don't like "sweet" style marmalade. I like the bitter English style (it's not "bitter"--it just has more peel flavor.) 

It's very easy; measure the right amount of sugar, boil it up with the mix and bottle it in sterilized Ball jars. I've made homemade grape and strawberry jams as well but I love the orange. 

[Caligurll]

I make a red pepper and jalapeno jelly every year around the holidays,  I give some to a couple of friends who like it and keep the rest for myself.  It's one of my (many) holiday indulgences.