Blackberry Jam Extravaganza

There are many things that I have yet to try but my aunts homemade jam is not one of them. I'll take a jar of their pineapple apricot or strawberry over any store bought specialty item any day! But as time goes on so do the years and my aunts are starting to get tired of making jam and other delights year in and year out. That was my cue to step up and learn. For the last several months I have been talking about wanting to make blackberry jam(my favorite). We are extremely lucky to live in an area where these buds of tastiness are plentiful and often free, that is if you are brave enough to face the thorns. The date was set and this labour day long weekend was it, my chance to get up close and personal with some berries. With the help of a super market and some friends with jars, I collected supplies and was off. Sunday was D-day, or should I say B-day! The picking began in the early afternoon, with a great vastness of blackberry bushes and a kind neighbor who let us pick on their property the buckets and their carriers were on a mission. The mission: fight the thorny, prickly, and often aggressive and violent blackberry bushes for the treasured berries. Some came armed with sneakers and old shirts, others not so prepared came in open toed shoes(a big no no) but the most important thing was that they came! For hours under the sun, amidst the bees and surrounded by the occasional snake we picked. We picked until our our fingers were purple from the berries and the thorn pricks and our legs looked like "Zorro" had been there. In the end we estimated 50lbs of berries took up most of the fridge space. After a day like that it was great to share a turkey dinner with all the trimmings with the family! Thanks!!

Monday morning the hard work began early. After a nice breakfast it was off to rinsing the berries, straining the berries, cooking the berries, straining again the berries, measuring the berries and making the jam.... This paired with sanitizing jars, measuring sugar, stirring constantly and a whole lot of arguing back and forth over what should be done next, took up most of the morning. Once we took a pit stop for lunch and shelled some fresh caught dungeness crab it was back to work. Now came the fun part filling the jars, sterilizing the lids, and my favorite, testing the jam! YAY after all this painstaking labour it was done and delicious. I was not afraid to share the riches and breakfast the following morning at work was bread, butter and yes, you guessed it, homemade blackberry jam! The torch has been passed and it's now my turn to continue the tradition with the years of fresh fruit ahead....