jam (This is good.)

Published: Sun, 08/24/25

** ellipsis * zoomed out * gore * microclimate **

(This is good.) JAM (drawing of a black raspberry) / When we moved into our house ~21 years ago there were 3 or 4 spindly black raspberry canes among the hostas in the deeply shaded front yard.

Anders dug them up and moved them to a patch between the back fence and the alley where they bask all day in direct sun magnified by the neighbors' white garage. / Dot, dot, dot and now there are two thick patches of overhead-height raspberry canes, one on either side of the gate, continually trying to both breach the fence and make a break for the alley.

Luckily, this has all happened gradually, and in the meantime I've gradually learned what to do with a lot of black raspberries. / Mainly, what to do is make jam.

Making jam takes a half-hour, and instructions for what to do during that half-hour can be found on the label of any jar of pectin. / This is mainly a recipe for how to get to that half-hour. / (carolyn picking berries)

The berries ripen the first week of July. It feels like the hottest, most humid week of the year. / Pick them late in the evening when it's maybe a bit cooler, even if the bugs are worse. Wear old jeans and socks and running shoes to wade into the thicket. It's so hot, thought — wear short sleeves. You'll get a few scratches /

Save a few berries in the fridge to eat with yogurt or in pancakes, but put the rest in a big Ziploc bag in the freezer. Do this every night if you can. / (Open freezer containing 4 large bags of raspberries, stuffed in alongside all kinds of other foods. Fridge door has magnets and a shopping list that reads sugar, lemon, pectin, chz clth) / One morning weeks later when you need room to put something besides berries in the freezer, set the bags on a baking tray
on the counter to thaw all day. / There's no turning back now! When you go out, pick up sugar, lemon juice, pectin, and cheesecloth (which is at the co-op or the hardware store on Lake Street but not at Cub or Target — don't even try).

Because the berries have big, unpleasant seeds, run them in batches through the food processor to make a mush. / (carolyn pushing the button on the food processor full of raspberry mush. food processor saying "zzzjnnnnhzzzh". Berry juice in drips down the side of the food processor and on the counter and on carolyn's shirt) / This takes longer than you'd think and is messy, so once you're done probably just put the bowl of mushed berries in the fridge,
clean up, and have a rest.

The next evening — this is the worst part — line a colander set over a large bowl with cheesecloth. Ladle in some mashed berries, then pick up the cheesecloth and twist/squeeze out as much juice as you can. Try hard not to think about a placenta or a human heart or anything like that.

(carolyn holding up big round cheesecloth bag of drippy raspberry goo. juice dripping into bowl. juice on carolyn's shirt, face, and neck, and on the counter.) / Measure how much juice you have. Then look at the recipe on the pectin jar and figure out how many times you need to times it to use all the juice.

Make a little chart on a piece of scrap paper and multiply it out. Relish this! This is what they meant when they said you'd use math in your life! You're doing it! / Follow the recipe. Add a pinch of salt and a little butter. Be generous with the lemon juice and use the lowest amount of sugar they recommend. Wear an apron. / (Carolyn, sweating, stirring pot of jam. little bit of jam spilled beside the pot) / THIS is the hottest, most humid day of the year.
Drink water.

Let the jam cool, then put it in plastic freezer containers — or, to keep it in the fridge, in jars. Don't process and seal the jars unless you feel like boiling a huge vat of water, you maniac. Just store the jam in the fridge or freezer, and share with friends.

(carolyn ladling jam through a funnel into a jar. jam spilled on the counter) / 3 full jars of jam, 2 on the counter and one being held by miniature background carolyn)

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