Jam!

Steve is away this weekend on a backpacking/camping adventure, and Christina and the girls planned all kinds of fun for their weekend alone. We've done a lot of pool, popsicles, and painting, but the most lasting thing we've done this weekend is make lots of jam!

Yesterday was cherry jam, and today we moved on to strawberry. The girls help Christina look up the recipe and get out what we'll need.

Then they use their strawberry pinchers to help hull the strawberries.

Clara even helped cut up the strawberries (Elena's attention had wavered to the doctor's kit at this point).

The girls helped smash the strawberries into this pulp, then Christina put it up on the stove. We hadn't made jam without pectin before- turns out instead of taking about ten minutes to cook it takes about an HOUR to cook - but it smelled delicious that whole time.

While the jam bubbled, the girls entertained themselves with the jam accessories.

When the jam had cooked down, we put it in jars, then Christina put it in the canner. While we waited for it to process, we scraped down the leftovers from the pot, and Elena blew on it to cool our taste down.

First lick - and a positive review.

Clara seconds the review, with a lick/bite of her own.

And Elena moves on to fun with the tea towel!

The verdict is still out on whether the cherry jam will set up (who knew that cherries were notoriously low in natural pectin??) but we loved the strawberry jam so much that we ate it for lunch and pre-dinner, slathered on baguettes and english muffin bread.