I feel like there should be this long complicated post for this jam. Because that is how much work went into making it. Not the actual making but the foraging. This is mulberry blackberry jam.
The bushes and trees in our neighborhood are still producing copious amounts of berries. There are still so many green berries it is not funny! Especially since I will be gone this weekend and wish to pick more soon. The blackberries are eating my hands and forearms. I am stiff from all the bending and squatting to pick the blackberries. Reaching for the mulberries feels good.
I have been picking about 2 kilos of berries every time I go out. I save off four cups for crisp and then make the rest into jam. I add 1 kilo of sugar and cook until it is the consistency I wish. The flavor is stupendous! All the boyos have gotten some and I have seen them eat it straight from the jar.
It is good.
It is different then the mountain jam because we have different berries but it is still ours. Still foraged. But people need realize forage does not mean no work. It is work. And then work to preserve it for later in the year. It just does not take money for the berries themselves. The sugar, jars, and lids. Yes, that takes money. But food is not going to waste which is a good thing.
More picking next week. I get to go into a tent for the weekend starting Thursday! I am excited.