We Be Jammin'

I have been cleaning out my freezer this week.  Fun job right?  No.  I hate digging to the bottom and finding something that I put in there four years ago and is beyond recognition.  Be that as it may- I did find some frozen huckleberries!  Woohoo!!  Huckleberries grow wild in the mountains by our old house in Montpelier and they only come on for about two weeks in August.  People up there are WILD about the little purple berries- and for good reason!  They are sooo yummy!  I took a small army with me last time we went picking so that I would have plenty in the year to come...  Throughout the year, I put them in muffins and pancakes and sometimes syrup- but mostly I try and save them for jam.  Raspberry Huckleberry jam is something that is so addicting it should be illegal.  Okay- maybe I just love it.  Yummy yummy yummy.  

Anyway- I also had a bag of frozen raspberries that we picked last summer too... you know where I'm going with this right?!!?  

So Ty and I started jamming.  I actually wanted to try something a little different this time.  I had read in a book I got from the library on canning (my reading choices are ALWAYS this exciting) that if you cook your  jam long enough, the heat will actually bring out the fruit's natural pectin- so that you don't need any jel and you can use less sugar.  I thought it sounded pretty good...  

It took FOREVER.  Ty and I had to take turns stirring the berries and sugar... and finally after about an hour... the fruit was ready.  Into the cans it went (about 12 pints) and I processed it.

Oh people.  It was so worth the wait.  The color was absolutely gorgeous... even this picture doesn't do it justice.  And it tasted so good.

Kate was a jewel while Ty and I were working on this.  She just sat up in her room the WHOLE time playing with her little princess castle.