Welcome to In A Jam!
Preserving delicious food for family and friends used to be a natural part of being a homemaker. Now it's a hobby and, in my case, a passion (maybe a sickness!). It reminds us of a time when people put real effort into what they fed their families and the food just plain tasted better. I've had a fascination with bringing out the best in food for most of my adult life. Along the way, I've filled too many canning jars to count, fed a whole lot of friends, family and colleagues and won some blue ribbons for my efforts.

Many of the people I've shared my jams and jellies with had never before tasted real, homemade preserves and it's an awakening for them. Nothing store-bought can compare.

If you've already discovered the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with getting into the kitchen and turning a bowl full of fresh fruit into sparkling jars of goodness, I invite you to share your experiences, questions, recipes and photos here.

If you're just starting out, or thinking about getting started, I hope you'll consider this blog a resource and a place to gain some confidence. I'm always happy to share some of the tips and tricks I've picked up over the past twenty plus years.

Spiced beer jelly ingredients in the pot.

For my part, I plan to share my adventures with all kinds of jams, jellies, salsas, veggies and pickles - and I do LOVE to try new and unusual recipes. For instance, this weekend, I'm going to try to whip up a batch of spiced beer jelly. I've attempted this one before. The flavor was amazing, but the set was too firm, more like honey than jelly. I'm hoping for a better result this time around. I'll let you know how it goes!

Bubbling nicely.

The finished product!