This is my jam.

I cannot tell you the time, nor the place, nor the circumstances behind this memory, other than that I was at a bar. With friends (I think). Having a great time (I assume). Listening to the music (naturally).

And then some song came on (don't remember what one). And this old lady (probably only 3 years older than me) spazzed out (totally wasted), yelling to her fellow old maids (all born after 1980) as her (presumably) favorite song came on:

You GUYS! This is my JAM!

And she proceeded to dance by herself.  (Trainwreck).

Great story, yeah?

I am chock full of wonderful stories like that. Mac is gonna looooooove me at bedtime.

Anyway.

It's mid July (a few weeks ago) and that means the local wild black raspberries started to ripen up. My friend Shanna and I went picking because we saw this Instagram Carrie Underwood posted (anything you can do we can do better).

I will not under any circumstances give away our secret location, but I will say that afterwards we walked 300 yards to Costco and did some shopping.

You know I live in the suburbs.

The overalls are a must anytime harvesting is involved.

We ended up with about 2 cups of berries each. Jam time.

Wild Black Raspberry Jam (makes about 1 cup of jam)
2 cups berries (I froze mine for a few weeks and it didn't make any difference)
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup maple or agave syrup
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
*Optional- you can swap out 1 teaspoon chia seeds for the cornstarch


1. In a large saucepan, heat all the ingredients over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved and mixture becomes thick, about 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour mixture into mason jars, and store in the fridge.

I made these simple oat muffins to go with the jam- perfect breakfast or snack.

Other uses for this jam that I've tried:
-stirring into hot oatmeal
-stirring into plain Greek yogurt
-adding to a spinach and yogurt shake


So yeah. *This* is my jam.