The Urban Jam Project
Seattle abounds in unused fruit: blackberries grow everywhere and many yards have fruit trees that their owners don’t have time to use. So I am on a one-woman mission this summer to make urban jams, jellies, and butters only using free fruit that my friends and neighbors aren’t going to use.
So far, I’ve made lemon raspberry jam, blackberry lime jam, and mint jelly. My new neighbors on the corner invited me to use their plums when I told them their plum tree gave excellent fruit. Geoff said I can use his French plums and apple tree. Elizabeth has another apple tree that she’s offered up.
There’s something very satisfying about making jam. It’s easy as pie (which, come to think of it, isn’t that easy). I like lining my jars up on a window sill where they catch the light like bottled jewels.
Comments
I was waiting at a bus stop the other day, and over the railing and just out of reach were bushes covered with fat blackberries. I seriously considered trying to get one, but the prospect of falling into the thorns stopped me.
But! Today as I was walking down Bellevue Way (from the QFC to work) I came across blackberries hanging over the sidewalk just within picking distance. I got one, and washed it off and ate it when I got to work. It was sour but I didn’t care. Gathering food off of trees and bushes and the ground (pecans in Georgia) rules.
I thought about doing a special line called Traffic Jam, because blackberries grow around all the freeways too … and then I decided that all the blackberry bushes in my alley would suffice. And probably not contain all sorts of exhaust to boot!
There’s a book about foraging in Seattle. I think I might get it. There’s something very satisfying about getting all this stuff for free ….
[...] After making 2 batches of blackberry jam, 1 raspberry, 1 mint jelly, 2 plum butters, and 4 apple butters, I finally grew tired of the Urban Jam Project (tag line: Mooching Fruit from Friends and Neighbors Since 2006). I’ve wanted to make cold process soap for years and years, but have been petrified of lye. Finally, I bit the bullet. I dropped $120 on supplies, and now I have a new obsession. It’s really easy. It’s REALLY addictive. I can’t seem to stop. Four days, four batches. [...]