Since I am probably the coolest gal west of the Mississippi, you know what I spent my Friday night doing? Making jam. That’s right. With all of my girl friends. Are you shocked by our clear demonstration of amazingness yet?
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Awhile back, my mom told me that she wasn’t going to make wine this year because she has so many bottles left over from last season. My parents have a bunch of grape vines in their backyard, and it seemed such a waste to let the grapes all shrivel up without being made into anything tasty! I was telling my friend Cindy this one day, and since she truly is the next Martha Stewart (girlfriend can make anything!) she suggested we make jam. It all began with the box-full of grapes that I cut from the vines yesterday:
You probably don’t want to know how long it took me to cut all of these from the vine, and subsequently, how long it took 3 women to de-stem them. Probably more time than any sane person would ever spend with a box of grapes!
After that, we threw all the grapes in a pot and reduced them down. We spent a lot of time mashing them to make sure we got all of the juices out.
After the grapes were reduced as far as they would go, we strained them. First of all, these grapes have major seeds, and although Craig and Brandy both said we should just eat them, we decided that probably wasn’t our best bet. Something about crunchy seeds on my morning bagel didn’t quite appeal to me, you know? Because we reduced the grapes down so far, I suppose we probably made more of a jelly than a jam, but whatever. My snack, my rules!
Anyway, we then added all the sugar and the pectin and brought it back to a boil on the stove. After that was ready, we got to put it in the jars which was my favorite part. It made me feel like I actually was doing something very domestic!
Last but not least, we stuck the full jars in some boiling water on the stove for like 10 minutes. I guess this is what creates the vacuum seal. Again, I am no where near cool enough to have known all this on my own! Brandy, Angel, and I were truly just following Cindy’s lead. Seriously, she is the only woman I know with three advanced degrees who seriously should open her own bakery or catering company or something. She’s pretty darn amazing!
Ironically enough, I never took any pictures of the completed jars! Whoops. Whatever, you’ll just have to take my word for it. I’ll probably crack some open tomorrow with my breakfast and I am pretty excited about it!
You know who else was excited? These guys!
Yup, we made jam with five dogs under foot! Cindy and Craig have two of their own (Piglet and Steel) and Angel brought her two (Max and Molly). Max is the giant beast of a lab that is jumping like 85 feet higher than the rest. He is seriously the only dog I’ve ever met whose eyes actually visibly dialate when he sees food! It’s freaking hysterical!! Of course, I brought Tals, so we seriously had a menagerie going on. Ridiculous.
Know what else is pretty ridiculous? The fact that it is going to be 85 and sunny today and I have to spend the entire day indoors, studying and doing some homework. I am so far behind in school right now and need to really crack down this weekend. It’s depressing.
In light of this depression, I have two favors of y’all:
How did you spend your Friday night? Any chance you made jam, too?!