Mixed fruit jam

I had some apricots and peaches that were quickly spiraling down the path to spoilage.  I cut them up and parked them in the fridge for the night. 

My family was in town from Washington this week, and my dad brought me a bowl of his home-grown raspberries.  We enjoyed a bunch in yogurt and over ice cream, and then I added the rest to the peaches and apricots. I also threw in some local strawberries that need to be used up. 

I went searching for Pomona's Pectin, but couldn't find any at the time (I later found some at a garden store and in my own cupboard..*eye roll* I should look more closely next time).  Since I couldn't find any at the time I decided to try making jam without pectin. I followed the guidelines I found on the Food in Jars website for small batch jam.  I ended up cooking the fruit in two batches so that I was more assured of getting it to gel. I added in a sprinkling of lemon balm leaves, but they discolored in the final product so I think I will leave that out next time. 

I am grateful to my grandparents who passed down this half size canner to me last month because I have a stove with an attached oven right above it and I can't get my big canner under it and still be able to put stuff in or take stuff out of the canner. This half size canner made it possible for me to can. 

And the finished product!  I like to can jam in smaller jars because we don't go through it that quickly, and if you give it as a gift you can give several small jars that way there is a variety. I also have two of the little jars in the fridge to use now. I made some thumbprint cookies that the jam goes well with. 

I will put up pictures of the greenhouse later- it looks amazing. First I need to go figure out what to do with several pounds of pie cherries.  Oh, and I will have the farmers' market post and a garden update later as well.