Assorted Jams, 1845

And now for June/July's berry jam haul. I used Eliza Acton's  Modern Cookery, in all its Branches (1845) for each of these. And despite the different receipts, they basically all boil down to 'boil the fruit, skim, add half the fruit's weight in sugar, and boil it again.'

Strawberry jam: Approximately 4 dry pints fruit yielded 3.5 lbs (after removing stalks and picking out bad pieces), which combined with 42 oz sugar made 3 1/4 pints jam. 

Strawberry Jam

Red raspberry jam, from the same source. 3lb 5oz fruit, plus 1lb 11oz sugar made for 3 1/4 pints raspberry jam. I made a second batch the following week, for a total haul of 7 1/4 pints. We used one of the quarter-pint jars at Tenino Oregon Trail Days the other weekend, and it went beautifully on the hot Soda Scones (with or without butter).

Raspberry Jam!

Another good common preserve (mixed berry jam): This jam receipt is basically the summarized form of all the others, but giving permission to freely mix any soft summer fruits in any proportion, and then add half-as-much sugar. For this, I tried a mixed berry assortment, using all the fruit in season at my sibling's house the first week of July. I got 3/4 pint of jam from 12 oz mixed fruit, 6 oz sugar. Raspberries were the majority fruit, with some strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and black currants. The jars look like more raspberry jam, but we'll see if any of the other flavors come through.