November Jam

I have never used frozen fruit to make jam, I have never made jam in November, and I have never made jam with Alexis and Bri.  Last night, I did all three, creating a most delightful day-after-Thanksgiving event.

A few posts ago, I wrote about teaching my darling daughter-in-law how to can.  I had purchased a dozen quilted jam jars for that same weekend, just in case we had time left over to do some jamming.  But applesauce takes a long time to make and then can, so we never got to jam.  We remedied that last night.

We are developing a Thanksgiving tradition that suits us well, especially with me still teaching.  Thanksgiving day, I prepare our meal in a leisurely fashion, and then Jim, Matthew, I and whomever (this year it was Matt's housemate Dan and Raven who works with both of these men) sit down to give our thanks later in the day.  Rob, his wife Alexis and her sister have been appearing on Black Friday, when the ladies hit the Black Friday stores, I make my mother's Scalloped Turkey casserole and we share  a Thanksgiving redux.  The holiday goes on and on in a sweet family sort of way.

After dinner last night, Alexis said, "I feel like putting my jammies on and making something."  And we did..make something: actually two batches of something--13 jars of raspberry and raspberry/peach jam.  We used these amazing raspberries a friend gave me (already frozen!) from the bounty of her overflowing bushes. We threw in some of my frozen peaches for batch two.  Curious if using frozen fruit would make it set or taste differently, Alexis and I could not taste any difference.  Good to know.

It sure is fun to jam in November!