Mama, are those berries safe to eat??

Aiden is my "let's try that!" kid. He sees a craft or a recipe or an instrument and he wants to try it. When he saw the Agarita berries in the yard, I knew I was in for it.
I sent him inside to find information on the Internet. He immediately found recipes for jam. I was absolutely not going to the store, so I found a recipe that didn't require pectin, (or anything else I didn't have).
And we set out to the yard to collect those itty-bitty berries that live on VERY sharp bushes. No thorns, but the LEAVES are awful!
We found out that the best way to collect them is to set an inverted umbrella under the branches. Then you just hit the bush gently (HA!) with a stick.

 

 So, after we knocked a ton of berries, (spiders, beetles, snails, sticks, and leaves), into the umbrella, this is what we had left. We needed to have 1 cup of ripe berries for the recipe I found...but I believe in overdoing everything, so we went for 2 cups.

 The next step wasn't so fun. We had to get rid of all the spiders, sticks, snails, leaves, etc. And EVERYTHING floated. I had hoped only the dead stuff and leaves would rise to the top, but it wasn't that simple. Of course. It probably took us 20 minutes to pick the "extra protein" out of the bowl.

After we cleaned all the junk out, we put the berries into a pan with water and cooked them for 15 minutes. They got soft, we drained the juice off and put it back in the pan, and then smashed the berries. We put the berries back into the juice and added sugar.

That's when I decided I didn't want chunks in the jam, so I ran the whole mess through the Ninja. :) All that was left were the seeds, which are edible.

But, I don't like seeds in my jelly. So I made another mess and strained all the seeds out.

After all that, this is what we had left. (Probably about a cup.)

The official taste testing went extremely well. :)

 

I imagine this particular container might conceivably last the week, but I'm not holding my breath.

It was definitely a successful experiment, but I don't intend to do it more than once a year. Maybe.

Here's the site where I found the original recipe...

And here's the recipe with my adjustments...

Ingredients for the Jam

• 2 cups cleaned, fresh Agarita berries
• 4 cups water
• 3 cups sugar

Making the Jam

1.     Place thoroughly washed berries and water in a stainless steel saucepan.

2.   Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium and cook for approximately 15 minutes until berries are soft.

3.   Strain out the berries and mash them in a wooden bowl. 

4.   Add berries back to the liquid. 

5.   Add sugar to taste. This is where I ran them through the Ninja, and then strained the seeds out.

6.   Simmer over medium heat for approximately 60 minutes (more time will be needed when making a larger amount). 

7.   When the liquid is syrupy, perform a 4 minute refrigerator test.  Take a tablespoon of liquid/berries and place in the refrigerator. If the liquid solidifies to an almost jam like consistency, your jam is ready to jar. 

8.   Allow to cool for a few minutes, and then place in a glass jar. 

9.   When the jar feels cool, place in the refrigerator.  The jam will thicken overnight. 

10.  The next morning, enjoy some of your Agarita Jam on toast.  YUM!!!