BLACKBERRY JAM.....SO EASY.....SO GOOD!!

While doing my weekly shopping on Sunday I noticed that blackberries were on sale for $1.29 for a 1/2 pint. Sounded cheap to me and since every time I eat at Le Madelaine I have their blackberry jam I thought I would try making it myself. I always thought it was just too complicated to make jellies and jams and I was shying away from anything that needed to be bottled up in a Ball jar. Anything that sells in a case of 12 I try to stay away from.......Plus I was sure I would process it wrong and we would die from food poisoning....This time I thought why not make just enough for a small container, just for the two of us.......After all when you buy jam in the store you never buy anything other then one jar at a time....Why is it when you make jam that your'e expected to make enough to feed the neighborhood.....So, for a cheapie price I picked up 2 packages, some pectin and gave it a shot. To say this was too easy is an understatement. After figuring out the right amounts of sugar and pectin to use with the amount of fruit I had (and I am no math-genius..this step needed the help of a calculator) I proceeded to make an $8.00 jar of fancy jam for under $3.00......I thought of Manuela at The Pleasures of Homemaking and knew she would be proud......For the 2 half pints, or about 12 ounces, I used 1/3 of the package of pectin and one and a quarter cup of sugar....I put the berries in the Cuisinart to crush them a bit. I then put the berries and the pectin in a meduim saucepan and brought it to a full rolling boil..... I then added the sugar and stirred until it came to another rolling boil....I never knew that a rolling boil is when it continues to boil even though your stirring......I then took it off the stove and skimmed the foam off the top. I poured it into a glass container and sat it on the counter....a couple of hours later when it firmed up I skimmed off the top layer (like when pudding sets up) stirred it a tad then put it in the fridge. We had it this morning on Paula Dean's recipe for Sour Cream Muffins and that other delicious looking thing in the picture is a Red Pepper and Asiago Cheese Frittata....Bon Appetit!!