Raspberry Preserves

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I have become more of a homesteader and a better homemaker and what better way then to make your own jam. This way I know exactly what is in what we are eating, I love that. We have lots of local farms, some with pick your own, so I went out with Liv last week and picked as many raspberries as possible.
I tried to do the same with strawberries, but I missed a lot of the season so picking was slim and we just ate most of it. Hoping to make some yummy stuff with blueberries soon, they are now starting to get ripe up where I live.

I was totally surprised at how easy it was to make jam, and how yummy the results turned out.
Technically I made preserves, which is not as smooth as jam or jelly. But to make jam or jelly you need more supplies, and just in case I hated the process or got lazy (which tends to happened when you are 8 months pregnant in a hot hot summer) I wanted to start of easy.

How made Raspberry Preserves (yields 3 jars)
4 cups of raspberries, cleaned and picked over
3 cups sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Combine all ingredients and let them sit for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, till all the sugar is dissolved
Pour into a heavy sauce pan
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer till a candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees F
Remove from heat, skim off any foam.
Ladle into 3 1/2pint jelly jars that are sterile, allow 1/4inch headspace. Cap and seal
Process 10 min using boiling water method.
Remove and let cool.
Enjoy!

Related articles

• 10 Ways to Use Raspberries (frugalrecipes.wordpress.com)