Jammin'

I kept reading about various people making jam lately — especially strawberry-rhubarb jam. So I thought that it might be fun to get my mom to help me to make some when I was in Oklahoma as I remember her making grape jelly from our grapevines when I was little but I've never tried to can ANYTHING before. It was SO much more fun than I'd even hoped it might be. In the end, not only did my mother help, but also my grandmother, who was raised on a farm and had lots of helpful hints on the canning. We had a flat-out jam dance of it!

Although we couldn't get any strawberries or rhubarbs in Oklahoma (which makes sense, really — when my mother tried to grow strawberries in a whisky barrel in our backyard, they came out to be about 3/8-inch berries — the climate is just NOT right), we could get Stratford peaches, which are fantastic! If you're ever in the area, I recommend giving them a try. And I do love peaches so this all worked out well for me.

Beautiful peaches, waiting patiently on the counter.

My mom's collection of lids. From 1973. . .

Blanching the peaches beforehand (we left them in the hot water for about 1 minute and then dunked them in cold water).

Oklahoma honey too! I feel very local-farm-supporting. This seems to have come from down the street from my college.

The vintage lids out of their box.

I really liked the recipes (one spiced and one not) I used here. They seemed pretty simple to me and I LOVE the jam that resulted. I don't know yet how well it will keep but all of the little buttons on the jars popped down so we'll see. If anyone has any tips, please be sure to let me know!