in article , William R. Watt at
wrote on 12/1/05 8:29 AM:

>
> Living in an apartment you might be interested in collecting wild fruits
> and berries from which to make jam, jelly, and wine. I find plenty along
> the banks of the river here in town where I go exploring on foot or by
> bicycle. They ripen in August here but I find many plants in the spring by
> looking for the blooms when there aren't so many leaves hiding everything.
> I've also been planting the seeds leftover from making jelly to see if
> that will increase the riverbank yield.
>
> There is some information on making wild fruit and berry jelly on my
> website (see below) under "Food".
>
> You can buy jars and equipment at grage sales and rummage sales, and
> new seals at the Dollar Store. The new seals I use are $1.50 at the
> supermarket but only $1 at the Dollar Store.
>
> For the amount of preserves and wine I make it's economical to buy sugar
> in a 50 lb bag at a grocery wholesaler who sells to small indpendent
> grocery stores. One bag does all my fermenting, preserving, baking, tea
> and coffee making for a year at 2/3 the cost of buying in small bags from
> the supermarket.
>
> Lately I've paid 10 cents for used preserving jars (normally 25 cents
> used) and maybe 5-10 cents per jar for the sugar in the jelly. The fruit
> is free so it's quite inexpensive, although preserving is labour intensive
> and therefore time consuming. For my own consupution I use old jam jars
> for free. (Make sure there are no rust spost in th eunderside of the lid.)
> For jelly to put away for future years or give away or I use preserving
> jars with new seals.
>
> I second the suggestion to cover up and wear an apron while boiling pots
> of jelly. Also beware of staining from juices. They'll even stain some
> painted surfaces if not wiped off before they dry.
>
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
> homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
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An additional thing to cover up are your feet. Don't make jam, jelly or any
other sygar syrup stuff in barefeet or sandals, that sugar syrup isn't just
hot, it sticks to the skin. And a long handled wooden spoon is good for
stirring that hot jam, that ay your hand is a long way away from the stuff
that sticks and burns.
Ellen
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