We be jamming!

Yesterday was my first experience in jamming, jarring, canning or whatever ya want to call it. My friend (who lives across the street) went blueberry picking this past weekend and brought home LOADS of fresh, organic blueberries from a local farm. They are so sweet and amazing! And since she had all the supplies, we decided to try making Jam out of the blueberries for the first time. We figured it we screwed up we still had plenty of regular blueberries to eat LOL! But... it actually turned out FAN-FLIPPIN-TASTIC! Yes, thats right... you heard! FAN-FLIPPIN-TASTIC! LOL! I am seriously proud of the Jam we made and I wish you all could taste it, because its good! And to be honest the process is not that hard and alot less messier than I thought it was gonna be. So here's what we did...

First off, we had to sort through the berries, because some were just not ripe yet. You want the ones that are kinda big and squishier, and you also have to go through and pull any remaining parts of the stems off. Then we washed them and counted out 24 cups of blueberries and place them in a pot. Then grab your GIANT potato masher (yeah, that's right the kind you make your mashed potatoes with) and start smashing! Get them pretty well smashed and then you want to put them on the stove to boil.

It will also start turning the blueberries into juice. Next add lemon (The juice of 2 whole lemons squeezed) and then your sugar. We used 15 cups of regular baking sugar and then added 2 boxes of Jell Sure (which is the preserves) and let that come to a rolling boil. Let it boil for 5 minutes while constantly stirring. Once you've let it boil for 5 minutes, then you can start pouring it into your jars. (We washed all the jars and lids in the dishwasher before hand just to sanitize them and keep them warm) Once you've poured them into the jars, you want to start putting the lids on immediately. After you got all your lids on place in boiling water and begin the boil bath. Boil that for about 5-10 mins. then take out and place on cooling racks to let settle. The lids will pop up on their own and will seal themselves. They are good up to a year unopened and in the fridge for a month!... that is, if it lasts that long ;)

Sorry for the crap-tastic pics, they were taking with my cell phone, during the process so I had to be quick lol. I'm thinking of trying apple cinnamon jam next time? Or maybe a stawberry or cherry one? What flavor Jam is your favorite? Above all... I can't wait to take a jar to my grandma, she is 91 years old and LOVES jam! She STILL makes her own jam, and I think she will be proud of me for this one. ;)