Tea, A Drink With Jam and Bread

 

It's the day after Thanksgiving and my thoughts have quickly turned from turkey and stuffing to buying Christmas gifts for all of the loves of my life.

Every year, the kids and I try to come up with creative, homemade gifts that we can make to give away to teachers and relatives.  A sure crowd pleaser every time is homemade bread and jam.  Maybe this year, we can also make some homemade assortments of teas to go along with the bread and jam, because if you remember, the one thing about tea is that it's a drink with jam and bread!


("Tea, a drink with jam and bread" compliments of "The Sound of Music" Movie)

Well....maybe not that kind of "Tea!"  or is it "Ti?!"  (These things are confusing!)

We usually make our jam in the spring and summer when berries are just right for the picking.  However, this year, things were a little bit crazy, so we didn't get to make jam.  The solution; we froze the berries and we will thaw them and make jam over the next couple of weeks.  Fun, simple, and delicious!

So please enjoy this quick recipe for making strawberry/blueberry jam:

Strawberry-Blueberry Jam:

After thawing the berries to room temperature, mash them with a potato masher.

In a 6 quart saucepan mix all of the following ingredients, stirring constantly.

3 c. crushed blueberries (about 2 pts.) (fresh or thawed from
      frozen)
3 c. crushed strawberries (about 3 pts.) (fresh or thawed from
     frozen)
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. Karo light corn syrup
1/3 c. lemon juice

Bring to a full boil over high heat. Boil rapidly 40 to 50 minutes or until a small amount cooled in the freezer for 5 minutes gels.

Remove from heat; skim. Ladle into clean hot 1/2 pint jars, leaving 1/8" head space.  Seal.  Process in a boiling, hot water bath for 5 minutes.

If you don't have a water bath canner like this:

Any tall pot will work.  Just make sure the water covers the tops of the jars.  You will need to put something under the jars to keep them off the bottom, such as a hand towel or small board. Water bath canners are not too expensive so you might just want to go ahead and invest in one.  You will be glad you did! 

You can also use the Sure-Jell freezer jam recipe, but I find that the non-freezer kind works best for gifts, just in case your friends forget and put the yummy jar of goodness in the cabinet instead of the freezer!  You wouldn't want your lovely gift to backfire on you, causing your loved ones to turn green, and not with envy if you know what I mean! 

(Note: the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving is a great book for anyone embarking upon a canning adventure. This is the book that I've used for years. Their recipes are very easy to follow!)

If you choose, you can decorate the jars up really cute.  I found this great idea on Pinterest from thisisloveforever.com.....

And that's it!  Wasn't that easy?!

Well, I must be off.....

Gotta go make some bread.....

and tea......

to go along with the jam!

Wow!  This is getting complicated!  Gotta run, because I've got so much to do and so many places to go, for I've got to go so "far" such...."a long, long way to run!"

"That will bring us back to...

Do . . . So Do
Re . . . La Fa
Mi . . . Mi Do
Fa . . . Re
So . . . So Do
La . . . La Fa
Ti . . . La So Fa Mi Re
Ti Do - oh - oh Ti Do -- So Do"

(Sorry....I couldn't resist!)  :)