Can Jam: June Ingredient = Erries!

The June ingredient for Tigress’ Can Jam has been revealed by Joel & Dana over at Well Preserved and they picked a great one: “_erries.” As in, berries of any variety, incuding strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, blackberries, huckleberries and whatever berry you have in your neck of the woods, and cherries of all varieties, black ones, sweet ones, Bings & sours, and even berries that are not berries in name, like red, black or white currants.

So, to offer inspiration to all the other Jammers out there (and to gather all of my recipes and experiments together so that I might gain inspiration), I’ve linked below all of the berry/cherry preserving recipes posted here on Local Kitchen to date.  Obviously last year I was all about strawberries & cherries (which is good for me, since that is all we have here in NY in June); I remember that I missed blueberries completely (work crisis, maybe?) and that I picked a lot of blackberries but ended up freezing them all (and we’ve gone through them too!). The lack of sun last year was murder on berry yield in the later months of the summer, so that also contributed to the lack of raspberry/blackberry/other berry recipes.

This year I will be gone for most of June, following the triumphs (I hope!) and tribulations (I fear) of the US men’s national soccer team as they compete in the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  There won’t be much preserving going on, in between the jumping, singing, drinking, clapping, face-painting, drinking, traveling, soccer-playing, drinking and talking smack that encompasses World Cup travel.  Luckily for me, the Spring has been warm & sunny so far, so strawberries are already making an appearance: I’ll have a trick or two up my sleeve for the Can Jam come June 20th.  In the meantime, enjoy, check back with Joel & Dana for 7 Days of Berry Ideas, and feel free to share your own inspiring recipes in the comments.

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Preserving Strawberries

Preserving Cherries

Blackberry Lime Jam

Wild Wineberry Preserves

And, some interesting ideas from around the Web:

• David Lebovitz makes a simple, “no recipe” Cherry Jam and an intriguing Pickled Sour Cherry.
• Elise at Simply Recipes and Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic make Elderberry Jelly.
• Faith at The Kitchn shares a small batch Gooseberry Jam.
• And for when you’ve made your jam, Joy the Baker shares Cherry Jam Cookies.