Saskatoon Season

Yes, it is saskatoon season. The best way to save money preserving is to get supplies for free, right? Saskatoons grow wild everywhere, I have 3 bushes in my yard alone.
We started by picking an ice cream bucket full of berries. Yakko helped me crush them with a potato masher.

At this point, we were intending to make jam. My neighbor called me during the crushing process and said "you aren't making jam out of these berries are you? The seeds are huge!"

Ok, so we switched things up to make jelly. At least she didn't call me 5 minutes later.

So, to make jelly, we take the crushed berries and boil the hell out of them for 20 minutes. As they cook, we run downstairs and search desperately for some thin fabric because there is no cheesecloth or jelly bags in the house. We found a piece of thin muslin, about 36"x36"
Put the pseudo-cheesecloth in a bowl and pour the cooked berry goo inside.

Tie up the corners of the cloth and make a bag. Hang it somewhere over a bowl or large measuring cup and leave it overnight. Try not to get too attached to your counters staying their original colour. This stuff stains.


Next morning, sterilize jars and fill a small pot with your lids and rings as well as some water. Don't boil canning lids! It makes them not work.



Measure off 3 1/2 cups of juice and pour it into the biggest pot you have. Add 1 package of Certo crystals and cook until it is boiling. Add 5 cups of sugar and cook, stirring constantly until it is up to a full, rolling boil again. Boil it for 1 minute and then remove it from heat


It will grow once you add the sugar! See that line where the juice was? Yeah, that is most of the way up my big pasta pot.

After it has stopped boiling, pour the jelly into sterilized canning jars, screw on the lids and rings and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. This makes 6 cups of jelly. It's really good!

The Boi says "Wow! It tastes like blueberries and honey!" and he doesn't normally like fruit or jam. 5/5