It’s easy to take gifts for granted, especially at this time of the year when we receive so many. But at least one this holiday season we cannot take for granted at our house – a jar of Annapurna’s jam.
Andrea met Annapurna in 2015 when they were both volunteering in the Himalayas of India. This fall they had a chance to reconnect once more in Northern California where Annapurna works as a field technician at the Blodgett Forest Research Station, halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. Blodgett focuses on forest management.
But back to the jam….
The label lists three major ingredients: rubus ursinus, rubus armeniacus, and rubus laciniatus. What are these? In order, they are the California blackberry, the Himalayan (also known as the Armenian) blackberry, and the cutleaf evergreen berry. Together, with a little lemon juice and pectin, they make the most delicious jam. It tastes much more like blackberries than any store-bought blackberry jam I’ve ever had.
To give you some perspective on Annapurna’s process in making it, she used empty yogurt containers and an empty ice cream tub to gather the various sorts of berries when they were ripe this year. She froze them until she had enough to make a batch. In all, she made 42 jars of blackberry jam this year. Annapurna mentioned to Andrea that she “lost a few to explosions” while she was learning how to can berries.
Even though the label has partially washed off, our sentiment remains the same. We love her jam!
Every year, I make berry freezer jams with the wild Himalayan blackberries in our yard, and my cultivated strawberries. I give them as Christmas gifts to our neighbors. Sometimes I buy fresh, local tay berries, cherries, or raspberries to make jam, too. They’re all delicious!
Sounds delicious! I would bet that your neighbors love you for making that jam.