In the middle of our summers we would always make jelly for the coming year. We would put up jars of Peach Preserves, Blackberry Jam and Jelly, Plum Jelly, Fig Preserves as well as Pear Preserves.
We all played a part in making these jams and jellies. We would pick the pears off of our tree and then wash the pears and then peel them and then the older siblings would cut them up for the jams and preserves. We picked the blackberries from the wild patches that grew in the fields and we picked the plums that grew wild on the side of the roads.
My mother would get all of her jars washed and make sure that she had the lids and seals for covering the jars. She would get out the huge pressure cooker that was used for canning and start the process. This was a full days work.
We loved it when it became time to sample the cooked jam, jelly or preserves. There is nothing better than hot jelly on buttered bread in the summer time.
Kids today don't know what they are missing when all they have to do is just go to the store and buy the jelly of their choice.
It seemed like it tasted so much better when you had invested some of you time in the process of the making of the jam, jellies and preserves.
Palmer Waters
