Wednesday, January 5, 2011

It's a Blueberry Jam kind of day

 

 

Last summer, while camping at the Paint River Forks, Steveio and I picked some Wild Michigan Blueberries.  It was a hot humid day and we went out with my sister, Linda and her hubby Fuzz for a nice getaway weekend.   Here is the blog post from that day:

Camping at Paint River Forks

 

paint river forks july 201076  paint river forks july 201028

 

Just check out these berry pickin’ fools!

paint river forks july 201029

As soon as those berries were picked and cleaned, I froze them in the motorhome freezer.  Two big gallon ziplock bags full!  I had planned to get around to making some jam from them right away... but…. well….  the middle of a snowy day in January works just as well, right?

 

Little Chelsea was my assistant and taste tester!  She LOVES blueberries and was squawking at me like a birdie to keep dropping them into her open mouth as they were defrosting in the bowl.  She kept me in line by wiggling the measuring spoons to get my attention and keep me focused.  She sat in her little high chair and helped me count the scoops of berries and scoops of sugar, keeping careful count as we made our jam.

making blueberry jam1

Note the bib:  “GRANDMA NEVER SAYS NO!”

We mushed and mashed and sugar and simmered …. 

 

making blueberry jam0  making blueberry jam2

We were filling the jars and listening to the delightful PING PING PING as the jars sealed up on the counter

We did up 23 jars of wonderful Michigan Wild Blueberry Jam

making blueberry jam3

 

Thanks to all the wonderful help by my little Kitchen Helper Girl…  even though she fell asleep during the second batch, she did her fair share of the work for me!

 

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Then as an added P.S. to yesterday’s blog post about my new containers.  I went out to the motorhome and decided to fill them up and stack them in the cupboards.  

Here is how it USED to look, with the round canisters:

new containers0

And here is how it looks now with the neat square shaped canisters, all sealed up

new containers1   new containers2

 

I might go back to the store and get one more for the other cabinet for our coffee.  At home we grind beans each day for our coffee with an electric grinder.  But I think with the vacuum sealed containers, we could grind up a bunch in advance for our vacation and just bring that full container along.  Better get back there before they go off sale, huh?

 

The day is ending with snow falling outside and quite a bit warmer than the 1 below zero I woke up to this morning.  We are in the middle of the grips of winter weather here in Wisconsin.  But a day of blueberry jam making is helps to make the winter blahs go away!

 

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9 comments:

  1. I grind coffee beans daily and brew the coffee in an electric. On the road I use a Melitta filter, and usually just buy a bag of cheap ground coffee. Grinding it ahead would be much better.

    I just love the way those cannisters look and fit into the cabinet. I should get some, although I'm not sure how much cooking I'll do on the road - normally I do easy things in a saute pan.

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  2. Loved how the cannisters look. Need to go to Shopko tomorrow and see if I can find any here. And that jam looks scrumptious. I wonder if I could make a small batch in the motor home since we don't have a s&b to use. Hmmm.will think on that or maybe I can find someone to make some for me....

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  3. I think I'll look for some of those cannisters. They sure fit nicely. The jam looks great!

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  4. OK, now I definitely know we need to run into you guys in the desert--to taste the blueberry jam!

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  5. What a precious little helper!! "Will work for blueberries"... must be related to Yogi Bear!!.... She is such a doll. Love the bib!

    I am loving those containers... definitely on my list.

    The jam looks so pretty! I'll bet it is awesome. I remember making jam with my Mammow, but it was in Northwest Alabama in the summertime - 95 in the shade + humidity!! Whew... :-) But oh it tasted SO good on hot biscuits that winter!

    Kerri in AL :-)

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  6. Lots of berries to find in the wild I assume. I love making jam in the winter when you want the stove on instead of in Aug when it is soooo hot.

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  7. Chelsea is such a beautiful baby, incredible eyes, too! Now were you able to make that second batch okay without her supervison?

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  8. Oh yes.. and a third batch too while she napped. But I am sure the FIRST batch is the best tasting one, right?

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  9. I found a set of 4 of these today at the thrift store for $2 each. They look just like new! The only thing one of them is way too tall for my pantry.

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