In a bit of a Jam (strawberry-blackberry)

So Wednesday I was organized.  I had a schedule all planned out of things I wanted to get done, and what times I wanted to get them done at.

I've totally blown that schedule out of the water.

It started when grocery shopping went longer than normal.  Then emails came in.

So what did I do?  Did I bite the bullet and get back on schedule? Nope.

I made jam.

Finished Jam - without seeds

Since I'm recently unemployed, I want to make a point of utilizing the most of my groceries each week.
I had some left over strawberries and the black berries from the CSA.  My son refuses to eat black berries due to the seeds.

   

So I cut them up, pureed them, and made jam. (see recipe below)


This is the first time I've ever made jam, so I hope it works well.

Going by appearances I think its ok.
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My Easy (Refrigerator) Jam Recipe:

About 2 cups of fruit (straw berries and blackberries) - important lesson: you need acidic fruits for it to set well, so a lot of other recipes call for adding lemon juice. I did not add any.

2 Tbsp + 3/4 tsp Instant pectin
1 1/2 cups sugar
jars - preferably glass jelly jars/canning jars - Make sure they are clean/sterilized






Cut the berries up and puree ( I used a Magic Bullet )












Strain the berry mix to remove seeds if you wish.







Combine into a saucepan.  Bring to full boil. Stir constantly.  Add sugar, stirring to dissolve it in.
Bring it back to full boil and let it boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  (stirring should not stop the bubbles at full boil)

Remove from heat, add instant pectin and stir it in well.

Pour into warmed glass jars (warmed so the hot liquid doesn't shatter cold glass)

Let cool at room temperature for a few minutes then cover and set into the refrigerator.  I haven't yet learned to can, otherwise there would be canning instructions as well.    :)

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Extra Note:  My son really dislikes seeds in his jelly (and fruit), so I broke this recipe into 1/2, to do two batches.   One with seeds and one without.  Mostly because I was making very slow progress at getting the berry juice and pulp through without the seeds.  Only got about 1/2 of the berry substance that the recipe called for. So being lazy, I just made the other half with seeds.

And this really didn't take that long, prep and clean up took longer than actually making the jam.  But I would recommend it be done when there are minimal distractions, as you need to be present at the stove-top and stirring constantly.  Happy Experimenting!