Freezer Jam

In the last couple of days I have put eighteen eight-ounce glass jars, the kind with the diamond ripples in them, into the deep-freezer a friend of ours asked us to store in our garage for the next six or seven months. The jars are filled with two of my favorite things - fruit and sugar.

Having home-made jam makes me feel hospitable - and I haven't even invited anyone over to eat it yet. But I imagine having friends over for Sunday dinner or the missionaries or having family in to visit and baking them fresh rolls and bringing out my jar of red jam, the rasberry seeds crammed against the sides, to the absolute ecstasy of my visitors. I get a little over-excited about these things you see.

Here is a startling something I learned making this jam, though. It's easy. And it's fast. There is this pectin you can get that makes it so you don't even have to cook the jam. You cut up your strawberries, your peaches, your raspberries, your...well, you get the idea, and then you mash 'em with a potatoe masher, put in some sugar, stir in the pectin for three minutes, put it all in jars and, zoom, you're done. The only real problem is having the freezer space for it. The jam has always tasted so good at my Grandma's house I figured it took at least a day's work - but 4 jars of raspberry jam took me about fifteen minutes.

And there is my secret of the day for you from the depths of my homemakery soul.