Sunday 8 July 2007

Jamarama!

We're Jammin'
I wanna jam it wid you
We're jammin', jammin',
And I hope you like jammin' too....

So sang Bob Marley, but I think he was referring to something a little different than this.
This is how it all started..... first we paid a visit to Barry's Berries strawberry farm:
Then YoungerSon was given the job of cleaning and hulling the fruit. He loved it, as you can see from the expression on his face.



Then we gave him a wooden spoon and said "Stir it up" so he did.
This cheered him up no end.
He looks so patriotic in his England soccer shirt and his London pinny. A tribute to the home country!




The Beloved... soon to be The Bride... was in charge of filling the boiling hot jars with boiling hot jam.
Not really an enviable job in a boiling hot kitchen in July.





And the end result... multiple jars of strawberry jam.

YoungerSon and The Beloved want to give a small thankyou gift to everyone at their wedding (not too long to go now, see the ticker at the very bottom of this blog), and wanted something a little different.... so (close your eyes, wedding guests, if you are reading this, it's a surprise) they are making strawberry jam!

This is the perfect gift... you can eat it, use the jar afterwards, it's hand made using pesticide-free local produce, and there's even a connection to YoungerSon's granfer in Devon, UK, who grew the best strawberries in Shammick.
So now my dining room holds 14 cases of 12 125ml jars... that's 168 jars! Enough to feed an army... well... a wedding and a couple of bridal showers anyway!
I hope we can resist the temptation to open a few jars before the great day!

For some reason, silly Blogger won't let me put a title to this post. Is anyone else having the same problem?
Update Tuesday July 10 2007: Title has been added. Alphabet Soup sent me to Blogger Help for the answer.... put the cursor on the word Title and it seems to work. Blogger says they are working on the problem.

30 comments:

  1. I'd like to be jammin right now - either making some jam, eating some jam or singing with a Bob Marley record about jammin.

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  2. As long as it's not a TRAFFIC JAM!!!

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  3. nice series of shots, homemade strawberry jam sound delicious!

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  4. What a thoughtful gift for the guests. Yummy too.

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  5. Four years back, we bought some great strawberry jam at a market in Kitchener.

    At the moment I can see a calico bag sitting on the kitchen bench bought from the same market bearing a "Hannaford" label which I think is a supermarket chain.

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  6. Yummmmm I love homemade jam. What a clever gift to give the wedding attendees. Great idea.

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  7. A great idea for gifts! Something home made always makes pleasure!

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  8. Yummie, I bet this is the old Combe Martin strawberry jam recipe (not the sort I put on my bum of course!)

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  9. What an excellent idea!! I would be a guest just to get a jar of jam!!!!lol!!!!

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  10. What a great idea! Very unusual, too. I haven't made jam in a few years; it's always comforting to have some in the cupboard.

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  11. Very nice and personal gift. Well, if you have any leftovers, you know where to find us :)

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  12. Hi ex shammy, lovely idea with the jam, mind i'm very jealous as I cant really have jam as a diabetic and on a diet too, but at least I can eat a few strawberries.

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  13. We have a hotel Traffic Jam here in Chennai,
    organic and without preservatives is a wonderful gift. i love strawberry jam
    so its going to be a jam session
    I wish them a happy and healthy married life

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  14. That's a lovely idea. Could I get a jar of strawberry jam without going to the wedding? :-)
    About the title, I think if you go to your settings and look carefully through all the stuff you will find the answer there. I had a problem with no title myself a while back and after much gnashing of teeth found there was a simple answer.

    Ms Soup

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  15. Oh that looks so good, they did one great job and i bet the guests will love that.
    Bye the way i tried to post the other day and it wouldn't let me, so not sure if it was my end or just a blog hiccup.

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  16. ajsgounStop Press!!
    I have just been to blogger help looking for something and see they have a notice about people not being able to put a title to their blog. Maybe if you had a look at this it might help.
    Ms Soup

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  17. Sorry about that ajgsgoun rubbish on my last comment. I really do need help!! I put word verification in the wrong box....
    Ms Soup

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  18. What a fantastic idea! If you want some lovely labels to finish off thegifts give me a shout, I would love to do some as a gift!

    Dxx

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  19. That is one of the best ideas I've ever heard for wedding gifts! WOW! That is really cool.

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  20. That jam looks wonderful. Our strawberries are a bit soggy because of all the rain.

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  21. I remember those days of making strawberry jam in the hot summer. It was a labor of love.

    I haven't posted yet today, but have had this problem in the past. I just waited a couple of hours and tried again until it let me.

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  22. REPLY ALL:
    Thanks for your comments, everyone. The jam is really delicious, I had some on my toast this mormning... no, don't panic, I made some jars of my own so I didn't have to dip into the wedding jam, and the jammerators took some home too.
    Dogbait: I think Hannaford might be local to Kitchener, it's not one of the big supermarkets.
    And thanks for your helpful advice, Ms Soup, I have the Title working now, at least for this post.
    And Mrs Nesbitt, thanks for such a generous offer, I'll be in touch!

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  23. I liked all of your pictures. Brings back memories of a long time ago when mother and I canned everything we grew. And we ate it all in the winter.

    oldmanlincoln

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  24. Great photos. Your son probably likes that job because now and then, he can sample.

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  25. Yes, you can create or clone euonymous and I have several that I have done. I never let them stand in water (the cuttings) but I have better luck sticking the cutting (minus all but one leaf) in the soil where it either stay moist or is in the shade. I water it now and then and it takes root. I do not use any hormones but some have better luck using that. I have it and have used it but some things just work by themselves.

    I will put the answer with photos on my website linked under "Questions people ask." It is almost 12:00 Noon here now so it will be there before 1:pp p.m.


    Here is the link to the website

    See "Questions people ask"

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  26. Homemade strawberryjam - the taste of summer.

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  27. delicious! What a great idea for party favors. A friend gave me a jar of strawberry jam and I (alone!) finished it in a week. I think I only put it on toast once. A teaspoon or two a day works nicely enough.

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All comments welcome.... unless your name is Anonymous..