Jammin'

Okay, friends. I thought I should update you about having made my first forray into the wild world of food preservation.

When I recently became obsessed with localvorism, I vowed that I would learn to can. "I'm going to can EVERYTHING," I told anyone who would listen. "I'll probably never go to the grocery store again," I self-righteously proclaimed.

I should note, for the sake of honesty, that upon hearing this my friend LW burst out laughing and screamed, "But why? They have CANS of stuff at the store."
"But this is BETTER," I said. "And FRESHER. And probably CHEAPER." I was right on the middle count, wrong on the others as it were. She was not the only one who was skeptical, however. My mother (helpfully) wondered where I was going to PUT the cans, given that our apartment is smaller than most average-sized SUVs. This is not to mention where I was going to put the canning equipment (which apparently includes a 200 gallon pot that, in retrospect, may not have fit on our 3/4 sized stove.)

So after waking up to reality and doing a bit of research, I decided that first I would try freezing. There are tons of recipes online for Freezer Jam, which you can make in smaller batches and store in the freezer until ready to use.

So I set out, bought some local raspberries and some type of crazy hippy pectin from the local co-op, went home and set about preserving.

Now, I must admit that this first attempt may not have been "worth it" in the traditional sense. Especially given the fact that it took several hours and my kitchen ended up looking like this:

However, ultimately, I did end up with a jam-like product that I had made myself, which was pretty thrilling (I was concerned that what I was actually making was frozen-fruit-mush, but it did set up overnight and turned very jam-ish.).

On the price front, however, I did not triumph. Total cost? $17. Which, as you might guess, is slightly more than even gourmet store-bought jam.

So the final count, as I see it, is as follows:
Me: 1
My friend LW: 1
Global Warming: 0

Can't wait until the next round!