Make homemade jam / marmalade

“Knowing that it was possible to have a go at preserving without any experience or special equipment, to try and not really have a clue if it was going to work out, made starting out easier because I didn’t expect perfection the first time or every time. It let me go with the wildly unrealistic notion of making my first ever batch of jam on a Monday morning before work (because I’d been side tracked on Sunday night and it was now or never with the macerated blackberries!) and having to run out the door, unsure if the jam had set and leaving my kitchen splattered with sticky purple spots and smears. When I came home, I popped open a jar and discovered to my great delight that the jam had indeed set and was heavenly – gloriously glossy, with the zing of lemon zest and juice to cut through the sweetness.”

“Our husbands were home watching TV, and I’d like to blame what happened next on them being distracting, but it was mostly my inexperience with the stove. The directions said to bring your mixture to a “violent boil.” And that is exactly what I did. In fact, it was so violent that sugary strawberry goo began rapidly spewing out of my pot, immediately charring on the glass cooktop. The first level of our house filled with smoke, triggering the fire alarms while the goo continued to bubble over. My husband rushed over and grabbed the pot off the stove, telling me I had to take it off the heat immediately and couldn’t just lower the temperature to get it to stop bubbling over. My friend’s husband started yelling fake exclamations of alarm to purposefully mess with me and add to the chaos. Smoke, char, alarms, and yelling were not addressed in my Ball Blue Book. I barely managed to hold back tears.”

“A few Sundays ago, I made my first jam. Orange marmalade to be precise, from untreated Sicilian blood oranges. It took me a few hours, and I had to wash the kitchen floor and myself afterwards because everything got a bit sticky, but I did it. That evening I was sitting on my couch just looking at those glorious five jam jars with their orange-red filling. Proud as if I’d laid an egg.”