Incredible Spreadable Wild Edibles

Well, only one of the fruits in this spread is technically "wild," but we didn't have to pay for any of them which makes them as wild as they need to be. This is the culmination of a few days worth of picking. It started on Saturday when I found the biggest red huckleberries I've ever seen growing out at Jessica's house. Normally red huckleberries (at least the ones I've seen) are about pinhead size, but these were the size of giant peas. Coral, translucent, perfect globes, they were like picking rosy pearls off a bush. Then yesterday Whitney and I trekked to the East Side in the rain to harvest blueberries from my old neighbors' yard. On the bike ride to get dry clothes, we found some juicy Asian pears and bagged them. I was ready to jam.

My normal technique for jam and preserve making this year has been to take ideas from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and apply them to the basic Pomona's Pectin recipes which allow you to use far less sugar, basically as little as you want, but will still gel. But I was pleased to discover a section of the Ball book that I had previously overlooked on making jams with no added sugar or pectin, using cans of frozen fruit juice concentrate for sweetener and apples for natural pectin. I halved the basic recipe for Spreadable Blueberries, substituted the Asian pears for the apples (only to add some apple back to the recipe later), and replaced two cups of the blueberries with the huckleberries. The grape concentrate called for definitely stands out and reminds me of the juice popsicles my parents used to make my brother and me as kids, but I can still taste the other fruit, especially since I left it chunky.

Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving:

Makes about three 8-oz (250 mL) jars

4 Asian pears, cored and chopped

3 cups blueberries

2 cups red huckleberries

1 can (12 oz) undiluted frozen unsweetened grape juice concentrate, thawed

1. In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently while mashing fruit, until mixture thickens, about 1 hour (I went for two, it just wasn't thick enough with one, but I also left some of the fruit whole, cuz I like it like that. Maybe it would have been quicker if I'd mashed all the fruit.)

Jewels.

At a low boil. Makes me want hot sangria.

After the first hour of simmering, I became skeptical that the jam was going to thicken enough so I went out and picked a few (three) apples (how convenient that there's fruit everywhere!) for some added pectin. I've heard that the skin is where most of the natural pectin is in the fruit, so I just grated in the skin and left out the rest of the apple. With another hour of simmering it was perfect.

2. Prepare canner, jars, and lids in boiling water bath.

3. Ladle hot jam into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles if necessary and wipe rims (I like to dip a cloth into the boiling water and then wipe them down). Center lid on jar. Screw band down til fingertip-tight.

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

5. Prepare for blue tongue.