This afternoon I re-discovered some hidden canned raspberry jam from 6 months ago (it's good for a year once sealed, don't worry) that I'd presumed failed therefore never tried (I was just procrastinating scraping out the jars to reuse). It took me until this afternoon when I decided to finally dump and clean the jars for my next canning project to actually give it a fair chance. I realized... not so bad!
Below is my afternoon's snack of pretzel thins, goat cheese and homemade raspberry jam. I'd thought about blending the cheese and jam but as those crumbles were my last, I couldn't risk losing them to failure.
If you're a canner or willing to give it a try, here's the recipe originally from epicurious:
Ingredients:
4 C granulated sugar
4 C fresh raspberries
Place sugar in an ovenproof shallow pan and warm in a 250F oven for 15 minutes.
Place berries in a large stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a full boil over high heat, mashing berries with a potato masher as they heat. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add warm sugar, return to a boil, and boil until mixture will form a gel in about five minutes (use a spoon test during this process: dip a cool metal spoon into the hot fruit. Immediately lift it out and away from the steam, turning it horizontally. At the beginning of the cooking process the liquid drips off in light, syrupy drops. A minute or two later the drops will be heavier. The jam is done when the drops are very thick and two run together before falling off the spoon. I waited too long for the last of the spoon tests and my result was a way-too-thick -- but still tasty -- jam. Next time I'll know better.)
Ladle into sterilized jars and can away.
