Category: Uncategorized

I don’t like to think of myself as a “crafter.” My crafts are mostly done for their utility rather than for aesthetic reasons (though if I’m going to make something it’s going to be made well). That said, I’ve got what I like to think of as “crafter’s ADD.” I’ve never been able to pick a project and stick with it exclusively until completion. As an example, while I was making Madeline’s flower girl dress (something that should have taken a couple of days) I also made 4 seat cushions, and altered 2 dresses and a pair of pants for other family members.

I currently have 5-6 projects in some level of doneness, and another 10-12 that I’ve got all the supplies for but haven’t started yet. I’ve recently re-started a project that I began probably 15 years ago. I made it a goal to stick with it and finish it uninterrupted. I’ve only made a pair of mittens and a scarf since I started. I’m impressed with my restraint.

So I know that I’m always trying new and “weird” things, but I recently stepped out of my comfort zone and did something actually new! I saw an old wooden quilt stand on Facebook marketplace, and thought it looked just like a tiny clothes rack. Thought I’d have a go at refinishing it to hang up all of Madeline’s princess costumes. It was originally varnished, and then it was painted with a too-thin layer of super shiny white, and then it was partially painted again in a thick layer of matte baby blue. It wasn’t super ugly or anything, but the paint was pretty beat up and I knew we could do better. Also, someone had used white school glue to attach some weird rhinestones near the top, and they were all falling off and leaving glue splotches behind. I didn’t think to take a picture until I had half of the thing stripped.

I let Madeline pick the colors, because I figured that was the best way to make it awesome. She decided on blue with (as she put it) “mermaid sparkle” accents. It’s definitely HER. Can you tell she’s excited?

I’m cheap (and apparently I don’t value my time very highly), so rather than going out to buy a chemical paint stripper I just used a putty knife to scrape it off. Worked pretty well except for the shiny white stuff, because the paint layer was too thin to chip it off cleanly. Once I got all the rhinestones, glue and paint off (minus the white stuff – not worth the effort), I sanded the whole thing down to smooth it out and remove any residual paint. I’ve heard it’s not really necessary when using the paint I decided to go with, but I figured I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’d hate to finish up the whole thing and have paint start chipping off in a year. Plus, I need maximum paint stickage to stop this little gopher from chewing it off too easily. She’s an animal. “I’m not chewin’ it, Mom. I’m not!” To be fair, her teeth were touching it, but she wasn’t moving her mouth. Technically she’s right, and she’s all about being technically right.

I used chalk paint (readily available in a variety of colors at most craft stores), which worked out really well. Decided to go with two layers to minimize the appearance of brush strokes and to make sure I got an even coat of paint and didn’t miss anything. Madeline helped by painting with pretend paint (“Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll do this together.”). She took her job very seriously. After the whole thing was painted blue, we added the “mermaid sparkles” and then covered the whole thing in two layers of a clear top coat. Check out that sparkle!

She was (and is) very proud of the final product. And so am I! It kind of has me wondering if there are other random things I can re-purpose and/or refinish. It was actually pretty fun.

So there you have it. I tried something new, and it worked! So if you ever find some weird piece of “why does that even exist” furniture, take a look at it and see if you can make it into something useful (and sparkly).

If you’re following me on Facebook (if you’re not, you should), then you know that I have a small apple tree in my front yard. It’s adorably tiny, but it grew a good amount of apples this year. So much, in fact, that I was able to make and can 6 jars of apple butter! I also boiled down the cores and peels to make 14 cups of apple “juice” (not for drinking, but more about that later).

So what is apple butter? If you’re not into canning, you might not have seen it before. For some reason, it’s not sold in most stores. This is a real shame, because apple butter is AMAZING. There’s no actual butter involved, so I honestly don’t know why it’s called that (apart from the fact that butter is delicious and so is this). Apple butter is what you get if you let apple sauce cook for a long, long time. It’s a concentrated, smooth puree of cooked apple goodness. It’s like a smooth, creamy apple jam. So how do you make it?

To start your apple butter journey, you need apples. Obviously. The only other required ingredient is sugar (and to be honest you might not need it if you have really sweet apples). I also like to add spices to give it some depth. I used cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice in this batch. I don’t measure anything for apple butter, because the ingredients will vary depending on the type of apple you use. My apples are tart, so I used more sugar than you might need to if you use a sweeter variety.

Step 1: Prepare your apples. Peel, core, and cut them into small pieces. Bigger pieces are OK, but will take longer to cook down. (SAVE YOUR PEELS AND CORES! Cover them with water in a big pot and simmer until the cores are soft. You can use the resulting strained liquid to make a delicious apple jelly.) And yes, I know these don’t look like apples. I have no idea what kind of tree we planted, but it makes apples that are pink on the inside. Weird, but delicious.

Step 2: Put the apples in a pot and add some water. You don’t have to be exact. We’re really just adding water so that the apples don’t burn while you’re waiting for them to release their own juices as they cook. If you add too much, just let it cook longer to reduce. You can always add more as you go if needed. Just make sure there’s always liquid at the bottom while the apples are cooking.

Step 3: Cook it. We don’t need it to be boiling here, but a nice simmer would be good. Stir frequently to make sure there’s enough water. Add more water if it starts to look too thick. Let it go until you have a pot of mush. It’ll get darker in color as you go. 

Step 4: Once it’s looking saucy, add your sugar. I like brown sugar for its depth of flavor, but any sugar will work. Add a little at a time, and keep tasting until it’s where you want it. Now is also a good time to add any spices you might want (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and even ginger are all good options). Again, just add a little at a time. It’s easier to add more than it is to fix it if you’ve added too much.

Step 5: Mash, blend, sieve and/or puree until you’re happy with it. I used an immersion blender for mine. We’re going for a buttery smooth texture. Now is your last chance to get it the way you want it. Add more water if it’s too thick, or cook longer if it’s too thin. You’re looking for something that’s a spreadable consistency. Remember that it’ll thicken up a little bit when it cools, so go for a pudding-type thickness. When you’re stirring, it’ll look almost glossy. Usually it’ll be a kind of creamy light caramel color. Mine came out a little more red than is typical because of my weird pink apples. (this video is terrible quality, sorry)

When it’s done, process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. It’s spectacular on toast, English muffins and biscuits. It can also be added to homemade sauces and marinades for cooking meats (pork or BBQ are classic options). Give it a try!

Last week I did something that I’ve been dreading for almost 6 years; I explained my son’s differences to his kindergarten class. They have been asking why he’s different for a while now. Why does he leave class sometimes? Why doesn’t he talk like they do? Why does he have to sit on a chair instead of on the floor with everyone else? Why doesn’t he listen? Why does he understand better when you talk with your hands or with pictures instead of just your mouth? All valid questions, but not ones I wanted to acknowledge.

My son, as you likely know, has Down syndrome. I tend to shy away from the term, because I’m still not comfortable with it. Yes, I know, understand, and accept that my son is different. But I’m still clinging to the idea that he’s different because EVERYONE is different, rather than “he’s a different kind of different.” I treat my son the same way I treat my typical daughter. His diagnosis is never used as an excuse or as a crutch. He’s a little slower to learn or to understand, just like my daughter is stubborn as a mule and talks back (we’re working on it). Every child has their own interests, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and hurdles to overcome.

So when Emmett’s teacher said to me, “The kids are asking questions about Emmett. What would you like to do?” I was a little lost and panicked. This required me to actually stop and tell people “My son is different than the rest of you.” I don’t think of him that way, and it still breaks my heart to think that there are some people who look at him and just see his diagnosis. He’s so much more than that.

So when I was asked what to do about the children’s questions, I decided that I wanted to talk to them myself. Who better to describe “Why is Emmett different?” than the person who can tell them all the ways in which Emmett is also the same.

We’re fortunate in that one of Emmett’s friends is in his class this year. His friend is only a few weeks older than Emmett, and he also has Down syndrome. His mother sent a letter home with their classmates explaining what Down syndrome is and, maybe more importantly, what it’s not. We planned it so that I could come in a few days after the letter went out to answer any questions the kids had. And now here’s what I’d like YOU to know.

Down syndrome is not an illness or disease.

Down syndrome is not scary.

Down syndrome doesn’t mean he CAN’T.

Down syndrome isn’t a “problem” that needs to be cured, changed, or “fixed.”

Down syndrome is an unchangeable part of who he is, but it is NOT what defines him.

Down syndrome is the name we give the characteristics commonly seen in people born with an extra copy of their 21st chromosome. The medical term is Trisomy 21.

Down syndrome is as much a part of him as the color of his skin and hair.

That extra chromosome is the reason for some minor differences in his appearance. It means that his eyes and ears are shaped a little different than mine and yours. His palm has a single crease running across it rather than two creases curving in opposite directions. There’s a gap between his big toe and the others that’s more noticeable than for most people. Perfect feet for flip-flops. But you know what? We all have chromosomes that make us different. Some people have red hair, some have dark skin, some have big noses. We all look different, and that’s ok.

That extra chromosome means that his body works a little differently. It causes him to have low muscle tone, which basically means that each of his muscle fibers is weaker than a typical person’s. This doesn’t mean he’s not or can’t be as strong as other people. What it means is that every movement he makes, be it moving his tongue to speak, moving his legs to walk, moving his fingers to hold a pencil, requires more muscle fibers than you need to use. It means that if YOU were using as many muscle fibers as HE does to do everyday tasks you’d basically be a body builder. Because of this, it took him longer to reach developmental milestones like rolling over, siting, walking and talking. Technically, people with Down syndrome are thought of as “developmentally delayed.” I think that this simplifies things too much. He’s not delayed because of lack of effort of motivation. He takes longer because he has to try so much harder! Every physical milestone he reaches is a testament to his hard work, determination, and desire to succeed. He’s amazing.

Finally, that extra chromosome means that his brain works a little differently, too. There’s nothing WRONG with the way his brain works, but the traditional educational system, the way we communicate, and the overall structure of our society are not designed for people like Emmett to succeed. Historically, this has meant that anyone who can’t just “figure it out” gets left behind. Doctors call this an intellectual disability, or a learning disability. But what if we stop thinking of them as “disabled,” and start thinking of them as “different.” You hear the term “differently-abled” thrown about and immediately think “What kind of PC bull**** is this?” I get it. That was me. But I’m here to tell you that my son does not have an intellectual disability. He does NOT lack the ABILITY to learn. He literally learns DIFFERENTLY. Imagine that you live in a world that uses different colors in place of letters of the alphabet. Everything else is the same, but the alphabet is now made of colors. Now imagine you’re born colorblind. The rest of society wouldn’t understand. They can’t see your “disability,” and you may not even know you’re different because you don’t know what you’re missing. Or if they did understand, they might still think you’re stupid. Who can’t learn to read? Preschoolers can learn to read. What’s wrong with your brain?! If people actually took the time to figure out how you’re different, then they could adjust the way they teach to match the way you learn.

And that’s the long way of saying that the kindergarteners in Emmett’s class seemed to already know everything I just wrote. They had no trouble understanding that people can be different without being broken. People can need help without needing to be fixed. Their questions weren’t so much about WHAT is different about Emmett, but HOW and WHY is he different and HOW can they help him succeed.

So now I ask you – If this concept comes naturally to a 5 year old, why is it so difficult for so called “reasoning” adults to comprehend?

It’s fall (basically). And while that means that my garden is on its way out (well, kind of – I’m bringing the smaller plants indoors for the winter), other foods are just ripening. I’m pretty psyched for apples this year. Hopefully I can get a good batch of applesauce, and some nice jelly from the apple remnants. But my favorite part of fall is the little-known hickory tree. What’s so cool about a hickory tree? They make hickory nuts. And what’s a hickory nut? It’s related to the pecan, and is one of the most tasty nuts out there. They don’t usually sell them in stores because they don’t have as long a shelf life as other nuts, and they’re a beast to crack open. I haven’t gone hickory-hunting since high school, so when I saw this year that hickory trees line the sidewalk by Emmett’s school I decided that this was the year for some serious foraging.

So what does a hickory tree look like? They’re one of the few trees that’s easy for pretty much anyone to identify. The ones with the best tasting nuts are also the ones with the most distinctive bark. It’s called a shagbark hickory, because of its distinctively “shaggy” bark. The bark on these trees pretty much always looks like paint peeling off an old house.

The nuts are in these weird green pod things, but don’t bother picking them off the tree. When the nuts are ripe, they fall to the ground on their own. A nice part of them falling to the ground is that the fall usually breaks the pod they’re in. If you have to break them out on your own, it’s easiest to throw it on the ground (but I usually wind up watching where the shell lands while the nut flies unnoticed in the opposite direction).

So every morning and afternoon when we walk from the car to school (I park at the end of the park so we have to walk the full length of the sidewalk), Madeline and I look for nuts. We can usually fill our pockets at least once a day. One morning, after a particularly windy evening, we had to drop our haul off in the car before continuing our walk to the school. You can’t let them sit too long or the squirrels get them (or the lawnmower – every crushed nut I see in the grass is a tragedy).

I mentioned earlier that they’re awful things to crack open, and I mean it. If you’re hoping for a nut that’s smooth and falls out of the shell like an almond you’re in for a rude awakening. These nuts have thick, rock-hard shells, and the meat inside is fairly soft and fragile. They’re next to impossible to break open without crushing the meat inside. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you might try with one of those hinged nut cracker things, but your hands are probably not going to be strong enough to break the shell without exerting some serious muscle. Then you’ll go for a hammer, which usually sends everything flying and leaves you with a mushed up lump of nut and shell. Not tasty. Biting on a piece of shell will seriously break a tooth. I figured there has to be a better way, so I turned to google and found the “best” way of opening hickory nuts.

Step 1: Gather your equipment. Pocket knife, hammer, nuts.

Step 2: Find the seam. Each nut looks like it has several dividing lines or ridges, but there will be one distinctive line that divides the two hemispheres of the nut. You can see it here running from top to bottom.

Step 3: Line up the blade of your pocket knife with the seam. Make sure you’re on a surface that can absorb the impact, like an old piece of wood or the weird end of your cutting board (I’m not the only one with a “don’t use this end” side, am I?).

Step 4: Hit it with a hammer. Several times if needed. It’ll take a while to get the hang of it. You want to break through the nut without cutting into your board. It actually splits in half pretty easily if you’re following the seam. This can get noisy. So sorry.

Step 5: Your halves are now separated! Now you just have to get out the meat. If you’re lucky, it comes out easily. If you’re not, you’re going to want to use the tip of your pocket knife (and possibly a needle of some sort) to pick out the meat from inside the shell’s crevices.

Step 6: Do that again about a hundred times. In fact, spend all day doing that. Annoy your family members. Make people wish they had ear plugs. Send shell fragments flying. It’ll be worth it.

Step 7: Was it worth it? Sure, they’re delicious, but that seriously took forever. And most of it came out in tiny fragments. That was disappointing.

Step 8: Search Amazon for “hickory nut cracker” and buy the first thing you see. It works. You’re amazed that the shell crumbles instantly, leaving the nut inside almost always intact. You’re happy, but also angry. That was seriously a whole day spent on cracking nuts. Why did initial google results not instantly bring up this $10 wonder machine?

Step 9: Enjoy your spoils. Make muffins or something.

If I were you, I’d skip straight to step 8. You’re welcome.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks! Emmett went back to school (he started kindergarten this year!) and Madeline is so, so, so jealous. She’s so ready for school, but because she’s too young for for real school I decided to start homeschooling her (well, homeschool “lite”). We probably only spend 15-20 minutes per day in actual “school” mode, but we try to review and refer to things we learned in school throughout the day as well. She calls me “Teacher Mom” now. She’s so proud of herself every time she learns something new or accomplishes a task I’ve given her. Oh, and I let her name her school. It’s “Madeline’s sparkly school pink school.” Because of course it is.

Emmett has been enjoying school. He’s making a lot of friends, and I’ve met his 5th grade reading buddy (he usually finds us in the morning to say hi to Em and to tell me about what they read last time). We’ve had a couple of instances where we’re out and about and I hear “Hey! That’s Emmett! He’s in my class! Hi, Emmett!” He’s always eager to be rid of me in the mornings, telling me bye with a “seriously, go away now” voice, while I’m talking to his teacher. Every day when he comes home from school he unpacks his bag and says “I have a present for you, Mom!” while handing me his folders and notebooks. Occasionally he brings home some homework (it’s not a real assignment, usually just a worksheet that the other kids did while Em was pulled out of the regular class). Sometimes he’s tired and cranky after school, but he’s actually usually pretty happy to do homework. He likes to show me that he can do it on his own (though most stuff is done hand-over-hand). Every time he draws a line, counts, or writes a letter correctly he says “Mom! I did it!” with the biggest smile.

As for me, I’m still teaching in the mornings (trying to get in as much as I can before daylight savings hits and I lose an hour – they don’t have that in China, after all), and sometimes in the evenings as well. I’m trying to keep up on housework, but I usually feel like I’m drowning and too tired to keep paddling. Both kids have decided for the most part that they’re done with naps, so my afternoons are usually filled with cranky (but not quite tired) kids, and they’re both usually asleep by 6:30 or 7.

I’ve started on Maddie’s Halloween costume. She’s going to be, as she put it, “a scary, sneaky princess witch,” so I’ve got my work cut out for me. Emmett has been knocking on our bedroom door at 5:00 each morning yelling “Trick or treat!!!”

Most days feel like I’m just barely hanging in there. I’m so, so tired. But I don’t think I’d change anything. I’m slowly but surely purging the house of things we don’t need or use anymore. It’s a good feeling to get the “stuff” out and to make everything a little more simple. The kids are happy to be apart from each other during the day (she cries that she misses her brother, but she’s honestly happier with him out of the house). Emmett is happy to be finally interacting with kids who aren’t his little sister.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to lock the fridge and freezer. I found a gnawed on ham in the living room recently, and she ate a small tub of ice cream for breakfast yesterday. Need to work on that.

Things are good, and the days are somehow too long and too short at the same time. I’m trying to make the most of each day, and am working toward the goal of a clean, organized, happy home. Some days are more successful than others. Ok, so few days are successful, but I keep the goal in mind and keep working toward it. It’s just on the horizon. I know it is.

We now have a nightly ritual. Lock every cabinet, lock every door, turn on door alarms. We run through it like a space shuttle launch countdown. “Front door locked?” “Check.” “Cabinets in the kitchen locked?” “Check” “Sharp objects hidden?” ” Check.”

Just when you think you’ve got it down, they come up with a new way to make you realize you’ve underestimated them. It would be funnier if I didn’t have to spend my morning directing the clean-up efforts. So what did they get into today?

They scooped out a handful of butter from the butter dish. You can see the tiny-fingered scoop marks. They ripped apart a loaf of bread and scattered its contents across the entirety of the house. No couch, blanket, toy bin or crevasse was spared. She even had bread crumbs in her underwear. They found the food dye. They. Found. The. Food. Dye. They opened the microwave, just to prove to me that nowhere is safe (it’s where we’ve been hiding things from them). The bathroom looks like a tree on homecoming weekend. There are tiny football helmets hidden around the living room like Easter eggs. Popsicle sticks are strewn about like leaves in the fall. The dirty laundry is mixed in with the clean laundry. And there’s still frosting in the carpet from yesterday that I need to wash out (I scrubbed and vacuumed, but it’s really in there) – and the frosting is a whole ‘nother story that I don’t have the emotional fortitude to get into right now. In retrospect, I can see that I practically gave them those things by leaving them within reach, but you don’t know what they can do until they do it I guess.

Oh, and they accomplished all that in only 30 minutes.

My morning will be spent making them clean it all up. My afternoon will be spent childproofing the upper half of the kitchen. I need to clean off the top of the fridge so we can use it as our new “save zone,” as that might be the only place left that they can’t reach (yet). Wish me luck (and patience).

I’m a pharmacist (or at least that’s what I tell people when they ask). That’s my part-time day job. My OTHER job is a little weird. Ok, it’s a lot weird, and I get the strangest looks when I tell people about it. I teach children in China how to speak English. The most common initial response I get is, “WOW! You speak Chinese?!” No, I don’t. Not even a little. But that’s ok! Because I’m not teaching them Chinese, I’m teaching them English. I don’t speak baby either, and I’m doing a decent job of teaching my kids English, too (though sometimes it’s a little questionable). But does it work? You bet! Imagine how much better you’d have learned a foreign language if you had been in a full immersion language course from the time you were 4 years old!

I work for this company called VIPKID. It’s at the top of pretty much every list that ranks the best “work from home” jobs. I’m a contractor, meaning that I set my own hours, and parents hire me to teach their child a 25 minute lesson. If they like me, they book me again later. It took a LONG time for me to get a good number of bookings, though. I only taught the occasional class for several months before I was “discovered” by a few parents who passed along my name to other parents. Now I’m hired by someone to teach during almost every time slot I open up. VIPKID provides the lesson materials, and it’s up to me how I choose to teach the information to each child in the way that’s best for them as an individual. Kids range in age quite a bit. I’ve taught a 3 year old (it didn’t go well – never try to teach a foreign language to a toddler right before bedtime), up through a 12 year old. The kids get older as the difficulty increases. I teach the two lowest levels because I like working with younger children more. VIPKID also handles the payment side of things. Parents pay the company, and the company pays me.

And the best part is I can work as much or as little as I want. Right now, because it’s summer break for them too, I usually work for an hour or two in the morning and an hour or two at night. During the school year, I usually only teach in the morning (their evening), and in the evening on weekends (my Friday and Saturday nights are their Saturday and Sunday mornings). Sure, it means that I get up at 5:45 every day now, but now I don’t worry so much about losing the income from dropping down to part-time in my pharmacist job. With just a few hours each day, during the times when my kids are eating breakfast and watching cartoons or sleeping, I’ve been making an extra $800-1100/month. Not too shabby.

Do you have to be a teacher already? NO! The requirements to be considered for hire include:

• a current resident of the US or Canada
• any “formal” or “informal” teaching experience such as mentoring, tutoring, coaching, or alternative education (and yes, being a parent DOES count)
• have a Bachelor’s degree in any field or at minimum an Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Education
• have a working desktop or laptop with high-speed internet that can handle both video and audio

If you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, click here! Since VIPKID doesn’t actually train teachers individually (they provide training materials and give you access to some online seminars, and then you “audition” one-on-one when you think you’re ready), they pay teachers like me $100 for each person they refer who gets hired. This means that THEY WILL PAY ME TO TRAIN YOU! So if you think that sounds like a fun way to earn a little extra pocket money, click the link and check it out.

I’m all about growing, making, and preserving food. We have a sour cherry tree out back, and it’s harvest time! And that means it’s time for all things jam, jelly and wine. I’ve made cherry jelly for the past several years, but it always seems a little wasteful to just squeeze out the juice and throw the rest of the cherry away. This time I decided to try my hand at making jam instead. What’s the difference? Jam uses the whole fruit, and jelly just uses just the juice.

How pretty is that?! I’ve been picking some each day as they get ripe, but I think this was the last batch I’m going to get. I had to stand on a ladder and pick them with tongs, because I can’t reach the ripe ones anymore 😆 (that’s dedication…and a little crazy).

Saturday was cherry jam day. Most people buy boxes of pectin to turn fruit into a gel. I used to be most people. But then I got to thinking, “Why are you buying pectin? There’s pectin already in the fruit!” Fair point, Casey. Fair point. Alright, let’s skip the pectin. No more pectin. If I wanted to buy something I can make myself I’d just buy the finished jam, right?

As it turns out, all fruit has pectin, but some kinds have more than others. Pectin works by forming a sort of “pectin network” – in order for the pectin to stick to itself, you have to get the water out of the way. Sugar is one way of doing that (it pulls the water out – put some sugar on a cut up strawberry and walk away for an hour if you don’t believe me), and heat is another way to remove water by evaporation. If you get it to the perfect temperature (220 F), it makes a jam or jelly with the “standard” grocery store consistency. A little lower temp and you get a thinner, easier to spread jam (perfect for stirring into yogurt or putting on ice cream). A little higher temp and you get jello (not literally, but you get the idea). And if you don’t have a good thermometer (or just want to double check that it’s set), just drop some on a frozen plate and stick your finger in it when it’s cool. It’s all about how much water you get out of the way, which dictates how strong the pectin network becomes.

So what if you don’t want to add a ton of sugar? Basically, you just have to boil the fruit for longer to evaporate the water, which gives you a more concentrated sugar solution. Most recipes without added pectin call for 1/2 – 1 cup of sugar for every pound of fruit you’re using. There’s no need to use the massive amounts of sugar (usually equal amounts of fruit and sugar) found in the recipes inside the pectin box. Powdered and liquid pectin are designed for fast jam formation (people are impatient). Because of that, it relies primarily on sugar, rather than boiling, to reduce the water concentration around the pectin molecules.

One additional note here. Pectin likes acid. As a way to ensure that you don’t have any problems with your jam or jelly setting, I like to add some lemon juice to the pot. You usually don’t need a ton (and if you want to get technical about it, it’s only actually needed for fruits that aren’t acidic – if it could be considered “tart” then you likely don’t need it). I usually add the equivalent of 1/2 – 1 lemon’s worth of juice to a batch of whatever I’m making. It won’t be sour because of all the sugar, and it doesn’t contribute anything to the flavor profile.

 

So basicaly, fruit + sugar (and maybe a little lemon juice), boil it until you get jam. I find it way easier than using boxed pectin. With the stuff in the box, you need to be very exact with your measurements, put the sugar in at just the right moment, and watch the clock closely. Also, I happen to think that the longer cook time results in a more flavorful jam (and you’re able to control the consistency much more easily by boiling for a longer or shorter period of time).

“But wait, didn’t you say that different fruits have different amounts of pectin? Do you need to do something else to get low-pectin fruit to gel?” I’m glad you asked! Yes, you DO need to add something else! No, not boxed pectin. We don’t do that anymore. But you CAN add a small amount of high-pectin fruit as a sort of “pectin supplement.” Check out this list! (You guys, seriously, I’m really into jam right now. You don’t even know how much fruit/pectin/canning research I’ve done this season.)

Low pectin fruits: apricots, blueberries, sweet cherries, figs, table grapes, kiwis, nectarines, guavas, peaches, pears, pineapples, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, and ALL fruits that are very ripe – these will all need some help to become jammy.

High pectin fruits: apples, sour cherries, crab apples, blackberries, elderberries, gooseberries, cranberries, currants, wine and concord grapes, grapefruits, lemons, limes, melons, oranges, plums and pomegranates

In the picture above, I’m making a rhubarb jam. Since rhubarb is very low in pectin (but I didn’t want to add a different fruit that would change the flavor), I added lemon. FUN FACT: lemon juice primarily add acidity (never a bad idea when you’re making jam), but the pith and the seeds are where the majority of the pectin resides in your average citrus fruit. I have the seeds tied up in a little sack of cheesecloth so I could extract the pectin while cooking without losing them in the jam. I removed the lemons from the jam once it jelled.

Since all fruit loses pectin as it ripens, it’s never a bad idea to include some fruit that’s just shy of being fully ripe. You can go up to 1/4 of the batch being under-ripe without it affecting the flavor.

So get out there! Make some jam!

But make sure you get all the cherry pits out before canning it, ok?