Lazy Fun Jam

I gave up buying a lot of silly things such as jam and made-up dips. I am too old and wise to put things that are called "healthful"but taste dreadful, into my mouth as well. Don't hand me glup such as kelp smoothies. Ugh. My body knows what it's doing and more or less tells me what works and what doesn't. And horrid tasting things are not good no matter who says so. You do learn to trust these wisdoms the older you get, and if you are lucky and careful, you will live a long time and yes, get old and love it as I do. Getting old teaches many lessons and one of them is to stop buying things that you can do yourself. No, you aren't too busy and if you have kids, all the more reason to let them get in on the secrets of using fresh foods instead of prepared ones with hosts of additives in them. No wonder there are more "allergies"! Today after tasting some bland non-local raspberries and strawberries from afar, I got out my favorite and most used wok with the slippery finish and flat bottom and wonderful two handles. The berries were not going to be tossed out. I dumped the tasteless fruit into it and added water and let it come to a boil. After that, I put in as much sugar as berries, and stirred to enjoy the pungent aromas that happen when the fruits cooked. I squeezed a lemon's juice and tossed a few fresh mint and sage leaves into the mess bubbling gently and continued to stir. It took a lovely long meditative time while I thought of all the wonderful days on my grandparents' farm where we were welcomed to have as many strawberries and raspberries as we could pick and pop into our mouths. I remembered the delight of finding small and large blackberries, huckleberries and wild raspberries in the woods there. Landing back down from the reveries, I found it was time to think about putting the small amount of now thicker boiled-down jam into a container. Why would I want to make eight jars of jam as some do, when any time I found some fruit I loved, I could do it this way. That's how easy it is. I use the jams as garnish on fowl, pork, lamb as well as sometimes stirring in a little vinegar and calling it sweet and sour with my stir fry vegetables and seafood. Children with supervision should learn how to do such things instead of scooping out chemically flavoured water called jam from stores. Any fresh fruit makes lovely jam and so easily. If you are terrified of sugar, go ahead and buy the weird white chemicals instead. It's your ... , well, whatever. Fear of sugar is having too much of it and often that comes of not having any. At the same time you are showing your children or children's children and beyond, how to do things with ease and pleasure, throw away the measuring cups and show them how to use their hands for that purpose. They will find out how much on their hand is a quarter cup, a teaspoon and tablespoon. The measuring cup amounts were designed long ago in the first place from hands. You can make your own mayo, peanut butter and a host of other delicious condiments from local foods. We have mint to pluck and other savory herbs as well in our woodlands. Don't buy if you can make. Moving back in time, is moving ahead in both mental and physical health.