Berry Fun

In a post somewhere I mentioned that I had read and enjoyed French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. My sweet husband joined in the fun and bought me some wonderful French chocolate and very dark cocoa mix, and we’ve enjoyed more than a few baguettes since we have a French bakery close to us. In addition to providing me with a special taste of France, I was also given another book written by Robert Arbor called Joie De Vivre and I found it equally delightful. One of the new tricks I’ve added to my cooking repertoire is taking a pint of fruit (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, or peaches…whatever is fresh and available) and cooking up a single jar of jam. The way I do it, the jam lasts up to a week in the refrigerator-by which time it is always gone. For larger families than we have at present, you use more fruit. I just now made some raspberry jam and it took about ten minutes to do it. The color is lovely, the fragrance is lovely and the taste is the freshest possible ever! I have spent some past summers canning and putting up jams for the winter, but for now, I’m enjoying the “small amount at a time” way to enjoy the summer fruits. My granddaughter just walked off with a fresh raspberry, cradling it in her hands and saying, “Soft, it is so soft!” She will love the jam! If you would like to try this for your own family, do an internet search for “refrigerator jam” recipes and you will find many to browse.

~Jane Claire Lambert