I have always adhered to a fly by the seat of my pants, leap before you look, throw caution to the wind philosophy of life and it's served me pretty well to date. I always optimistically ask myself, "what's the worst that could happen" and nine point nine times out of ten, the worst is never quite that ominous.
Jam making is supposed to be rather an art form if you listen to the ramblings of ye olde jam experts out there. There's the copper jam pan, the thermometer, the jam sugar, the pectin, the "wrinkle" test...blah ditty blah blah!
With a gargantuan mountain of ripe strawberries in the fridge turning the most brazen of crimson reds it was time for jam making! Hubby and I with a googled recipe in tow and a whole lotta bravado took to the stove. "What's the worst that could happen?"
Well firstly we read the recipe wrong and didn't add the correct amount of sugar but since it was bubbling away merrily Hubby said, "let's just chuck the rest in...what's the worst that could happen?" So we plowed on. Wrinkle test...huh? Well it kind of wrinkled when we pulled it out of the freezer. More like a Cindy Crawford wrinkle rather than a weary old Nepalese goat herder whose spent all his life in the sun wrinkle. Time to bottle her up! Have we sterilised the jars? Oopsie....keep on bubbling a little bit longer Mr. Jammy (yes I even name food!!).
Triumph! A collection of ruby red jars now adorn our pantry shelves filled with perfectly set strawberry jam...not too runny, not too thick laced with chunks of berry. So next time you feel a wee bit scared to tackle something new, ask yourself, "What's the worst that could happen?" and then jump in. Weeeeee!
8 comments:
yum! looks lovely!
Oh, Steph, I love it! That's so inspirational. I grew up with a mother who used to worry about such things and ended up concluding that jam making was too hard. You may just have provided me with the necessary impetus to try jam making for the first time! J x
There's nothing more delicious on toast than a homemade jam!
YUM!! mr. jammys jammies look cute too!
Oh Stephanie what a perfecto philosophy to life (and jam making!) Those red strawberries look deeeeevine! If my kids were anywhere near that bowl, you'd have none to make jam with! I'll be making fig jam soon and will take my caution and throw it glee-fully out to the wind thinking of you madam! hugs and bliss for you and the family xx
You made it! I'd be so proud. I love the 'chuck it in and see' approach. Suits me for sure! x
Well done! I love the way you've decorated the jars too:)
I used to make jams with my grandma. It's was the best way to spend a day as we used to make 10 jars for winter:)
:) glad that it worked out - we have some here that is more like a syrup - but oh so yummy on icecream:)
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