In which Ashli has the house to herself, Part 3: Jamming

Yesterday I was able to fulfill a good bit of my canning endeavors. If I do not live to can another item (which may be likely, since today's main project is cleaning out our home's own private Pit of Despair--the garage--from whence I may not rise the victor), I shall be pleased with yesterday's accomplishments. But that's enough drama. On to the real business.
I'm wary of canning as a method of food preservation generally, because I'm not convinced that cooking a fruit or vegetable to death, dousing it in sugar-syrup, then sealing it in limbo so it can hang out in your cupboard for months is the best way to reap the nutritional benefits of summer during the winter (okay, not done with the drama). I've found other methods for making things like pickles that so far have been successful...and quite tasty. Apparently, the traditional pickle, whether cucumber or other veggie, was made by letting the chosen vegetable sit in a saltwater solution at room temperature for a number of days. It sounds scary, but what occurs is a fermentation process. It allows the development of enzymes and friendly bacteria which enhance the nutrients of raw vegetables. And the taste? Well, they taste like...pickles. So I can have my pickles and eat them, with the benefits of their being a raw food. Sweet!

But I love jam. I continue to opt for the cooked-n-canned version (tried the fermented version, didn't like fizzy jam), but there are still alternatives that aren't so sugary. So, armed with honey and Pomona's Universal Pectin, I think I've found a happy medium with happy results...

The Asian Pears: Last weekend my dad and I picked several pounds of this fruit from my grandpa's trees. Unfortunately, I was adversely impacted by finding so many wormy ones, and just felt too grossed out to eat them plain. So...nobody else is here to eat them...aha! Convert the good bits into a nice batch of Pear Sauce (like applesauce, just not apple). This worked okay, but it was too runny and wouldn't cook down, so I just decided to see if the remainders of the pearsauce would make jam. I actually managed to cook it down further (it's probably cooked beyond having any nutritional value left), and with a little extra honey and some pumpkin pie spice, it turned out delicious! At least, the remnant that ended up just in the fridge and not in a jar is. It appears that, like canned tomatoes, when canning asian pears one has to take precautions against botulism. So maybe we're not okay. But then, I feel like these darn pears were a gamble from the beginning.
The Plums: I think this variety is what they call an 'Italian Prune'. I picked them off a random tree in my neighborhood that doesn't appear to belong to anyone. Tasty and beautiful, they turned into beautiful preserves, all peachy-colored with purple spots from the peel. Never made plum jam before, but the name sounds so wonderful I had to try it out! And with free fruit, why not?
The Blackberries: Good ol' blackberry jam. Tangles of brambles near my house yielded lots of nice berries this season, although I started jamming a bit late and had to scrounge a little to make the jam. This canning experience was remarkable because I was able to pick each fruit, and not necessarily with the aim of making jam. It was available, so I took some (why waste it?), and now each jar of jam that resulted has little memories and experiences preserved in it. I bet they're nice on toast.