Raspberries

Alright, so the raspberries are not from RHG, but I did go to a local pick-your-own place today, and picked just over 4 quarts. I was intending to make some jam with them, until my husband started to talk about the "raspberry preserves" his grandmother used to make. It's one of the only ways he likes to eat raspberries. After some discussion and recipe perusal, we concluded that it's not a true "preserve". She actually just canned raspberries, as they were whole berries in a very thin syrup. Easy!

I used a light syrup recipe (1 part sugar to 2 parts water), and gently packed my berries into pint jars. Next I added the hot syrup, and processed for 15min in a hot water bath. I now have 8 pints of summer deliciousness cooling on my counter.

One of my favourite sounds in summer is the musical "pop" of jars sealing after being canned. It makes me happy to hear, as I know I've got little bits of summer tucked away for another day. Oh- just heard my first two pops!

This year, I've already put away two batches of Strawberry Vanilla jam, and a batch of Strawberry Lemon jam as well. I still plan to make some raspberry jam... maybe Monday? And of course blueberry! I can't live this close to a blueberry farm and not go pick some. A few years ago I made a delightful Blueberry-Lime-Ginger jam (which didn't set... long story) and I want to do it again. Except maybe this time I'll get it to set.