The color and arrangement of these Summer fruits called me from across the farmer's market. I wove my way through the crowd so that I could get a closer look. Stunning! Do you feel the same way? I picked up a carton of the black raspberries to make a quick batch of jam, reminiscent of the one I'd make with my grandmother's berries each summer.
Do you remember this story of when I met the women staying in the cottage next door to the one that had been my grandmother's? It still makes me smile.
Today I am mixing the black raspberries with some sugar and a packet of freezer jam pectin. It will turn breakfast into a sweet walk down memory lane.
I'm not sure the farmer believed me when I told her that it was her display that made me choose her booth for berries. But it's the truth! How could I resist this black and blue checkerboard effect?
As a girl, each Summer I would pick black raspberries in the yard neighboring my grandmother's house with my boy cousins. We would eat, smush (for horror movie effects) and collect as many berries as you would expect a 9, 10 and 11 year old to. With our bounty, my mother would make jam. This unusual berry is my flavor of choice on toast and it is not often that I get the chance to make it.
Here is Part Two from my week of binge canning (so far tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, apricots, peaches and pickles!):
Black Raspberry Freezer jam
It is super easy to make homemade jam when you use Ball's No Cook Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin. You simply blend the envelope of pectin with 1 1/2 cups sugar, then add 4 cups of crushed fresh berries and stir for 3 minutes. Then ladle the jam into clean jam jars and let stand for 30 minutes. Put one jar in your refrigerator to enjoy now and store the extra jars in the freezer.
