5/28/08

Jam session

Fresh wave of home canners pump up the jam :
Growing up in Texas, I assumed the only people who made jam held AARP cards. That was until last year when I moved to the Bay Area and found kindred spirits in their 20s and 30s who loved the process. If knitting could make a comeback with Hayes Valley hipsters sitting in storefronts mastering their perl, cooking up homemade jams and jellies might just be the next wave in retro chic.

"A lot of people think jam-making is a grandma thing," says Eric Haeberli, 41, who co-founded Welovejam.com four years ago in San Francisco. "But every time I tell people I make jam, they think it's really cool."
Link.

8 comments:

Bacchus said...

I grew up watching my mom, grandmother and aunts can all summer as things ripened. We'd go to the farms and buy bushels of tomatoes an can jar after jar of stewed tomatoes, tomatoe sauce and mashed tomatoes. Or it would the aunties and their apple butter, etc... I've always wanted to do it again. I wonder if there are canning circles like the knitters. Maybe a group of people get together and can all day then split the goodies after.

Anonymous said...

Home canning is the best. Store bought can't measure up at all. I use to do all that & I loved to make Jams & Jellies. Mixing all those luscious fruits to make Jam. Hmmmmmm

Anonymous said...

Hi Chuck,

When we lived in the Boston area I was in my 20's and had a huge garden (no surprise) with grape vines. I made so much grape jelly and strawberry jam that I will never eat it again.

I do knit, a lot, and have done since I was 10. Not because it's hip, but people like getting what I make. Fun! My sons, in their early 20's, can knit, crochet, and sew, because it's a down-to-earthy thing to do. The older one makes beer, and the younger one has helped his Uncle Mike make soap. That is very cool. I love Uncle Mike's soap. Jam making is next, I guess!

Emma

Unknown said...

I love making jam! And pickling all sorts of weird things, like green beans. Pickled green beans with garlic... yummmmmmmmm.

chuck b. said...

Kim--you pickle things! I hope you write a long, informative blog post on that subject. I want to try pickling some of my garden vegetables this year. Please tell us all about it.

lisa said...

I'm with Kim-pickled green beans are the best! I put hot peppers in mine...yum! My mom taught me to can, pickle, make freezer jam, all that stuff. I haven't used her pressure canner since I borrowed it though, it kinda scares me. :) I'm gonna can tomatoes and make salsa this year, but I use a hot water "bath" for that.

Brent said...

I'm gradually expanding my skills in this area: I've made two marmalades this year (Meyer lemon and kumquat) and some fruit preserved in alcohol.

My mother always made Blenheim apricot jam too, from an old tree. We moved, and the apricots weren't the same. Years went by and I guess the memory wasn't forgotten: My parents now have two young Blenheim trees.

chuck b. said...

My dad recently made a cute film of an old lady lady friend of his from his community's historical society making Blenheim 'cot preserves. I wish he wouild put it on YouTube.