Thursday, August 16, 2007

Jam Today, Gone Tomorrow!

The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today. Or so would Lewis Carroll, in his book Alice in Wonderland, have us believe.
Not so on Bliss though, we are firm believers in jam today!
Black berry (bramble) jam in fact, as there are lots of ripe berries at Bliss at the moment. We have a thorn less black berry which makes for easy and damage free picking ( look Ma no scratches!). And jam making is easy, very easy when you have one of these nifty kitchen gadgets:
a bread making machine. Yep, that's right, this handy gadget is good for making bread; you just chuck in the ingredients and the machine does the rest. The only other thing you have to do, is eating the bread while you enjoy the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread in your home. But, like I said, this handy little machine also makes jam. See? Programme number 13 is for jam making.
So in went the handpicked berries, the sugar and the lemon juice, programme 13 was selected, then the start button was pushed and 125 minutes later the jam was ready. The only thing left to do was pouring the hot jam into squeaky clean glass jars.
Et voila, 3 jars of home made black berry jam today!

I love black berry jam and like having a croissant with it, it is so yummy! And I also like to put a spoonful or two in some yogurt, or on some piping hot pancakes, mmmmm delicious! And of course, having made the jam by the sweat of your brow, slaving over a hot stove (not!) makes it taste even more delicious.

And there are more ripe berries at Bliss than just the black berries; loads of elder berries, ready for picking.
But not today, they will have to wait because we're going away on holiday, to Denmark and maybe also Sweden this time. So cheerio, and I'll be back before you know it!

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Sam (left) with his daughter Pippa

A heartfelt thank you to all my garden blogger friends world wide for all their kind words, e-cards and support. I miss my Sam more than I can say but all the hugs, love, understanding and sympathy you have showered on me, does help, so thank you all!
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Gardening, like living, should be fun. It can't be much of the time, but we can do our best to make it so. It is that intangible something which immediately proclaims that behind the scenes there is an original whose guiding hand has created something ephemeral, yes, but with the magic of a sunset.
Christopher Lloyd

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pfff- ik was deze funktie op de broodbakker helemaal vergeten...hartelijk dank!
Mooie vakantie toegewenst, met goed weer zodat je veel kunt genieten van de wonderschone natuur daar.

OT: meten = weten: de blauwe knoop is hier tussen de 1.00 en 1.40 mtr. In de catalogus staat tussen 30 en 90 cm...:-)

Anonymous said...

YE: I can almost taste that jam! Have a great holiday! We'll miss you!

Anonymous said...

A bread-making machine that makes jam! That's brilliant!!!

Connie said...

We are picking blackberries now too, but they are the wild kind with LOTS of thorns, so we must do it very carefully! Your jam is beautiful...how nice to have food that looks pretty, as well as tastes good!

Barbara said...

If I only had this bread-making machine, that would have made it much easier to cook the jam of the cornus mas berries, a job which I did yesterday!!! And the blackberries and elderberries are still waiting to be changed into jam....
Have a nice day!
Barbara

Libbys Blog said...

I am seriously going to have to look into getting one of these bread making machines!!! I may have to pop over for a croissant and jam as sadly there are not many berries around here!!!
Have a great break!

Anonymous said...

I've never heard about about a machine that can make both jam and bred. How convenient! :) I just love black berries. I used to pick them where my grand mother lived when I was a child. Summer memories! I wish you a nice weekend even though you have a hard time at the moment. Hugs!

RUTH said...

Have a wonderful time while you're away. I've noticed quite a few places where the blackberries are ripening so my breadmaker will be in use soon!

Robin's Nesting Place said...

I went downstairs to check and my bread machine has a jam feature on it too. I use the machine all the time and never paid attention to that. Not that I've ever made jam any other way either. Yours looks delicious. Enjoy your time away.

Garden Cats + Crafts said...

Mmh, ich rieche Deine Marmeladen-Düfte. Am liebsten esse ich die Brombeer-Marmelade. Lecker! Im Brotback-Automaten habe ich es noch nicht ausprobiert, obwohl ich es auch in der Gebrauchsanweisung gelesen habe, dass man dort Marmelade drin kochen kann.
Sie jedenfalls lecker aus!

Süß das Foto von Sam und Pippa. In Pippa lebt er schließlich auch weiter.

Schönes Wochenende, Dir und allen Pelznasen, Birgit

Annie in Austin said...

You showed us something new and fun, Yolanda. Because all the mess is contained it's probably better for the environment than my attempts at making preserves - it took a lot of water and cleaner to get strawberry goop off the counters, stovetop, floor, cook, wall, etc.

Have a wonderful trip to Denmark.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Matron said...

My friend told me months ago that he made jam in his breadmaker. I told him that I thought he was "two sandwiches short of a picnic" - (an English expression). It looks as if apologies are in order now!

Unknown said...

Yolanda Elizabet, I hope that you have a wonderful trip to Denmark--and that there are many luscious blackberries and elderberries waiting for you when you return.

Thank you for sharing Sam's life with us, and I am very sorry for your loss. He did indeed seem to live quite the charmed life, but deservedly so with all of that sweetness and beauty he provided in return.

Anita said...

Dear Yolanda!

Oh, I envy you! Selfmade jam! I hope I will be able to harvest enough fruits from my garden in some years from now, too. After two years of gardening, everything is still quite little over here.

Yolanda, do you know that YOUR (and my blog) is featured on the
Gardenvoices page today? A friend of mine in the US found it, click here:

http://voices.gardenweb.com/

Scroll down a bit.

Intersting, isn't it?

Groetjes,
Anita

Jane O' said...

Yes, I ran right over to my bread machine to check. No, it doesn't have a jam setting. Shoot! Well, maybe I'll ask for a new one for Christmas and next year I'll be all set.
My, my, have you got me hungry now.

Poppins said...

Black berries - yum-yum!

Kylee Baumle said...

Jam in a breadmaker! I'll have to check mine! That's brilliant!

Look at all those elderberries!! Thanks for the reminder that the blackberries are ready. I forgot about them. We don't have them, but there is a small public park in a little village that has oodles of them at the back wooded area. Several people, including us, go there to pick every summer. I had forgotten about it until you reminded me! :-)

Have a wonderful time on vacation! I used to write to a girl named Birgitte in Denmark. We somehow lost touch. :-(

Naturegirl said...

Yolanda I love making jam but I don't have the luxury of the bread maker.
mmm...home made jam!!
Have a wonderful vacation! hugs NG

Anonymous said...

Nou ja zeg.....een broodbakmachine die jam maakt. Te gek toch!
Fijne vakantie.
Groetjes Marga

Carol Michel said...

I have so many grapes right now, I need a bread machine that makes jam. I really do!

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Anonymous said...

Wat een prachtige (èn lekkere) grote bramen!
Daar komt lekkere jam van, waar je straks menig boterhammetje mee kunt smeren, maar nu eerst maar vakantie vieren!
Veel foto's maken, dan kunnen wij weer meegenieten.

groeten, Marian

Rusty in Miami said...

Yum !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Black Berry Jam sounds delicious. Have a great vacation.

Wurzerl said...

Hallo Yolanda, danke für Deinen Besuch auf meinem Blog. Leider kann ich erst heute auf Deine Seite, weil mich mein Security-System nicht auf Deinen Blog lassen wollte. Dabei sehen Deine Katzenbilder gar nicht soooo gefährlich aus. Im Gegenteil, man spürt in Deinen Bildern und Kommentaren, welche Liebe Du ihnen entgegenbringst.
LG Wurzerl

lisa said...

Wow...the only jam I've ever made is freezer jam, which you don't cook. But I'm glad you mentioned the breadmaker, so when I get one, I'll be sure it has that feature. So sorry to hear about your kitty, but at least you got to have some time and make some memories with him. Enjoy your holiday....I can't wait to see what kind of yummy stuff you make next!

A wildlife gardener said...

So sorry to read about the loss of your beloved Sam, Yolanda...

Yumptious, scrumptious, stickyumptious blackberry jam...slurrrrp!

Have a great holiday :)

Green thumb said...

Hi! dear Yolanda,

Have a very lovely trip to Denmark.
Blackcurrant jam sounds so exotic. I can only imagine its taste as blackcurrants are not available here, but they look berry berry appetisisng-:))

Heidi said...

I have not visited you at your blog for a while and see your bad news about Sam. I am so sorry to hear he has passed away. I love my cats and know that it is like loosing a child. They become so special to us! He will always remain in your heart!

I love brambles! We just picked some this past weekend. I love eating them fresh with vla and some whipped cream. Enjoy your jam today!

Groetjes ~

Heidi

Anonymous said...

Yum! You've made me hungry for delicious jam :)

Anonymous said...

OMG... you made that in your bread maker! I had no idea they would do that. Looks delicious!

Andrea's Garden said...

I just love homemade jelly! When we visited Langeoog this year, the blackberries were ready to be picked and could be found all over the island. What a great idea to cook jelly in the breadmaker. I didn't know you could do that and I will check if my machine has this option. Have a nice vacation! Andrea

kate said...

How fortunate you are to have blackberries! I content myself with stenciling them everywhere. I love blackberries ... I must tell my father about your jam-making activities using your breadmaker. My father makes all kinds of different breads (I think he loves waking to the smell of fresh bread and trying new combinations of grains.

I hope your trip to Denmark is restful and wonderful!

Libbys Blog said...

A little something for you on my blog. many thanks for inspiring me!

Sanna Tallgren said...

Have a nice vacation! Imagine that you can make jame with breadmacine!? I didn´t know that. My blackberry was destroyed when it was growing in all the wrong places. And it was so full of thorns that picking the berries was very dangerous :)

Lilibet said...

Rest in Peace, Sam.

Very sad to hear of your loss, as a cat lover. However, I am happy, too, to hear that Sam lived his entire life in a wonderful home with a family that loved him. What more could a kitty ask for? Oh -- not to mention such a beautiful garden, too!

Such a gorgeous cat. About two years ago I had the opportunit to adopt a large adult male Russian Blue. He was so big! Very friendly, but huge, 13 pounds at least.

Tira said...

those berries have my mouth watering, and the elder berries are so pretty. have a fab holiday.

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