Jam-Making 2008: Ok here we go!

Once you're all set up, fill up your big pot with water and stick all your jars in there on the rack. You want them upright and the water level in the pot needs to cover them by at least an inch or more. Try to keep the jars from touching one another or the sides of the pot. Find a burner that it will fit on (mine is so big, I can only fit it on the front of my stove). Then turn on the burner to get the water started boiling. This is going to take a long time, so you will want to wait a few minutes before starting to cook your fruit.

While the water is getting going, you'll be cooking your jam. The goal here is to get your fruit to boiling. Turn on the burner to a medium heat setting. The nice thing about Dutch ovens is, you don't need to use high heat to get things to boil in them. In fact, you want to keep your heat as low as possible while still maintaining a boil in the fruit. Once you get the fruit boiling, stir it every few minutes and make sure that the heat is not too high. If your heat is too high, the jam will scorch a little on the bottom and you will get these icky scorched floaties in your jam.

The jam needs to boil for about 25-30 minutes. You're looking for it to reduce down and get a little thicker. The peaches took a little longer to cook than the strawberries did; I think this was because the peaches have more juice in them. You'll get this foamy stuff on the top of the jam as it boils; that's normal. Just keep stirring it and checking on the heat periodically.

Meanwhile, your water will finally start boiling at some point. It needs to boil for at least 15 minutes. Then turn the heat down to a low setting. You want the water to stay hot (180 degrees). Now take the jar lids and drop them down into the hot water. Just let all that sit until your jam is finished cooking.