Ah, yes, good question there from my kitchen savior and forever best foodie friend. She saw my last blog post, and immediately rang me up. “It’s not spoiled,” she said. “That’s what it looks like before you cook it.”
Oh. Good point. How come the recipe didn’t mention that?
Now that’s looking more like jam! My friend also pointed out that fruit pectin is not required, only helpful in thickening the jam further. She also reassured me about not going through the whole canning process, and often times just filling the jars with the hot jam will provide enough heat to vacuum seal the can. In fact, I just heard a seal pop not too long ago! After cooking for about 25 minutes, I came out with four perfect jars of strawberry rhubarb jam.
I have to thank all my friends and family who read my earlier sob story. My mom called me, my grandma emailed me, my sister sent condolences over Gmail chat. And what if I had just crawled under the covers…I never would have known this jam could be saved!
I think my lesson here about “quick and easy” is continued. Taking short cuts is all good, but maybe you have to hold off on taking those short cuts until you know all about the long and hard road. How could I not know that you have to cook the jam?
I admit, it makes me feel kind of silly, and while I could let that subtract more from my self-esteem, I’m instead going to focus on the fact that I’ve got great people around me who are always helping me to become a better me! I’m definitely proud of that!
May 13th, 2011 → 8:00 pm
[...] great news… check out my update on this jam in my next post “How come you didn’t cook that Strawberry Rhubarb Jam?” Thanks to some tips from great friends, this jam didn’t turn out to be such a disappointment [...]
May 22nd, 2011 → 9:00 pm
[...] can be calming, the results rewarding. I was a little nervous considering my first attempt with strawberry-rhubarb jam this year, but I forged [...]
November 23rd, 2011 → 7:56 pm
[...] is in great part due to the kitchen experience that I have continued to build on, in successes and fails, throughout the year. I think it is also is owed to my comittment to make changes to my eating [...]
April 12th, 2012 → 4:09 pm
[...] those jars of apricot jam last year, and I realized how glad I am that I did not give up after my first big jam disaster. Instead, I thought about the bread, how I made that bread — my first big bread baking [...]
May 16th, 2012 → 8:22 am
[...] have had all of these days. Just read about my jumble with strawberry-rhubarb jam or my unfortunate angel food cake flop for reference. Those were bad days, and while yes, [...]