Easy elderberry and strawberry jam

I had what I call a great idea today while eating my peanut butter and elderberry jelly sandwich. I’m not much for food preparation. I like to cook and I like to entertain, but I’ll tell you what, processing fruit for canning is a real pain. It took forever to strain those wild cherries. Granted, the juice was delicious, but there must be a faster way, so I came up with a catch while enjoying my sandwich. I just sprinkled my thawed elderberries on the elderberry jam to add a little extra to the sandwich and figured why not mix the elderberries into the existing jam? Choose your favorite flavor. Mine will most likely be raspberry and strawberry. Yes, I will do it twice.

So let’s call this the lazy man’s recipe for elderberry jam, shall we? After all, we already have all the ingredients available in the jam from our warehouse or we can buy it in the store. Now I’m sure there are all sorts of reasons why this shouldn’t be done. Something about condoms? Maybe the ratio will be wrong when adding the new berries to the existing jam? I’m no expert, but I figure this may be an easy way to at least get the goodness of those elderberries in your peanut butter sandwich so you can enjoy protection from the flu this season. I am sure that those reading this will appreciate my efforts.

Making the jam is easy. Let’s ditch all that ingredient nonsense that so many recipes have and start with what we need. Choose your favorite jam and grab a handful of ripe elderberries. Add them to the jam and mix. I like elderberries and I like the benefits, so personally I’m going to use a lot of elderberries. If I already have 16 ounces of jam, I’ll probably use a full cup or more of the berries and mix them up. I’ll grab a half-used jam jar or mix it all up in a bowl of some kind if I can find one in the kitchen. After all, this is foreign territory for me. Once everything is mixed, I’ll put it back in the original jar and find a container for the rest. Then I’ll take what’s left over and make myself a sandwich right now. There will likely be leftovers after all, since I’m a guy in the kitchen who makes jam with jam. There is no need to complicate it. It is what it is and we will live with it. Keep it simple and easy and life can go on.