Last night was my second attempt at jam – I burned the strawberry jam the first time around. After a google search for “making raspberry jam using honey” I came across this information which was exactly what I needed before venturing into rather unknown territory. I’m happy to say that all turned out well. The six half pints of raspberries yielded 4 jars of jam (one is half empty because we’ve been sampling it).
Of course, after doing a brief cost analysis, it turns out that each jar is roughly $4.50. So, not quite the savings one might have hoped for. I imagine that if I grew and picked my own berries, and kept my bees and harvested the honey (which, sadly, I won’t ever be able to do, because of a severe allergy to bee stings), the cost would be lower (unless, you translate time into money – it might just be more!). However, that is nothing like the satisfaction of supporting a local farm, and then concocting something all by yourself.
For those wanting to know my method:
Wash and smash berries, bring to boil in large pot to reduce the juices. Mix up Pomona’s Universal Pectin per instructions (which means just the Calcium/water mixture). Measure out 2 cups of honey and mix the amount of pectin recommended according to P.U.P.’s directions. Pour honey into boiling berries, bring to a boil, stirring continuously, remove from heat as soon as boiling has begun. Ladle into jars. Lick of ladle when done! 
(Pop into fridge, unless you are going to actually preserve them – this was just a trial run, so no canning/preserving was involved).
1 Comment
July 22, 2008 at 8:19 pm
There is a way to make jelly out of boughten juice also. You can find it at http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com