De Baking Psychopath

This was one of the most popular gifts I made this holiday season, so to share the joy of the tart, not-too-sweet, deep antioxidant-packed power of this jam, here is the recipe below. I used all frozen berries for mine: 2/3 frozen blueberries (bought from Costco, wild blueberries from Maine), and 1/3 a mix of frozen berries from Trader Joe's (mix of regular blueberries, cherries, and raspberries). I'm sure fresh sweet berries would be fabulous as well. Enjoy! Mixed Berry Jam (adapted from The Art of Preserving ) Makes 6-8 half-pint jars (total volume of 48-64 ounces) Ingredients: 3 lbs (12 cups) of berries (can be raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, in any ratio you want; frozen berries work great and are cheaper during off-season months) 3 cups (1.5 lbs) sugar (cannot decrease) 3/4 cup lemon juice 1 package pectin (you can find this at the store usually near the JELL-O/gelatin) Instructions: If canning, sterilize jars and canning lids/sea...

This past weekend, I joined a friend of mine in traveling back to her hometown for a grand endeavor: to make delicious jam!  She decided to make blueberry jam from frozen blueberries, which means we can recreate her masterpiece any time of the year. I had my heart set on marmalade, but since citrus is out of season and not found frozen in large chunks, I decided to make them a supporting role and to instead find a seasonal fruit to be the star so we can remember the summer as it begins to slip away. I settled on Peach-Orange Marmalade. We went to a local orchard to pick up 5 pounds of peaches from the end of the season bounty. Before leaving Pittsburgh, I picked up a few organic citrus from Whole Foods for the recipe. Armed with fresh produce, we embarked on a marathon jam-making session on Saturday. To say the results of both jams were delicious would be a gross understatement.  Her blueberry jam was "the best berry jam" we've ever had. It is ...