Make your own jam or preserves.

“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. I was amazed that I could make something this good first-go. I was hooked.”

“Jam requires absolute concentration, so I couldn’t think about quarantine when I was at the stove, or wiping jar lids, or timing the water bath. And because life likes a little bit of suspense, there was the moment when I put the jars on a cooling rack, and waited, hopeful, optimistic, for the little ping as the lids sealed.”