#71: Learn to make jam

Alright folks I did it. I learned to make jam and accomplished one item on my list. After 3 years of living in this house, I finally went out and picked ripe prickly pear from the cacti in our neighborhood, reduced it to juice and then made jelly. Chad and I have talked about me doing that since we moved into our house. Every year, we see the beautiful fruit grow, ripen and fall off without ever being used. Well, not this year. I picked the fruit and made juice on Saturday and then today made the jelly. The worst part was burning the spines off of each piece of fruit. It took me about an hour to clean a half grocery sack full. I had to take each piece of fruit one by one and burn them off using my gas stove burner. It was hot, particularly given I'm so pregnant. I took a couple of breaks but got it done. From there it didn't take took much time. You put the fruit in a big pot, add 1-2 cups of water and boil the fruit for about 20-30 minutes. Once softened, you take a potato masher to the fruit and squeeze out as much juice as you can, then pour it into a bowl through a colander lined with cheese cloth. You leave the colander over the pot to let it drain and let the fruit cool. When it's cool enough to touch, you put on latex gloves and start squeezing the heck out of the fruit mash to get every last drop of juice you possibly can out of the mash. From there, you can drink it or make jelly or whatever else you want. I chose to make jelly. We shall know in a day or two if the jelly turned out. I hope the jars sealed and the jelly set. I'll let you know.