Jelly Honey: Triple Berry Jam

Triple Berry Jam

The perfect way to end the summer; lost in row upon row of full lush raspberry bushes. The ripe red fruits almost fell into our hands. Except for some slightly annoyed bees who went off in a huff without stinging anyone and a few scratches from the thorns, it was so easy to fill a pail with the sweet berries. We went with good friends and the three girls giggled and ate and picked and ate and teased each other and, sticky red-stained fingers tell the tale, ate! We had three pounds when we were done, and add that to the two and a half pound I had already stowed in the freezer, it was time to make jam.

I love the texture of preserves but with raspberries I find there are too many seeds. I started out making a seedless jam but then thought perhaps I would throw in some whole berries as well. As I reached for the frozen raspberries, I spotted a bag of wild blueberries and also some strawberries. I tossed a couple of handfuls of each into the jam and the perfect texture emerged.
Before this summer, I always made freezer jam but all my complaining about canning the pickles aside, I was feeling brave enough to try something else. The jars of jam came out so gloriously beautiful that I started thinking about canning some other recipes. Last night my Dad mentioned how we used to make concord grape jam in Montauk in the fall. I guess I know what to look for at the farmers market this weekend.