Jammin' Out with Alaska Living Skills

By Jacob Kaus and Annie Sanford

On August 29th, the Alaska Living Skills class went on a berry picking expedition. The excited group went down the Taylor Highway and up a logging road in search of the little blue balls of goodness. 

The class’ plan was to use the berries to make homemade blueberry jam. The class piled into one of the school vans and was off. The trip took about 40 minutes and, as the van neared its destination, you could see many of the passengers looking out their windows, hunting for berries. 

As the van pulled to a stop, the students piled out with buckets and bags in hand. Each group went their separate way in hopes of picking the most blueberries. An occasional roll call from teacher Mr. Dorrel assured that the students were present. The class picked under a time limit to assure that the group would get back to the school at a sensible time.

After picking as much as possible, the class climbed back into the van and headed to the school. As they entered town, the group picked up three pizzas to enjoy at the school as they cleaned the berries and put them in the freezer. 

A few days later, the crew was ready and prepared to make some jam. The process was simple. First, they took the berries out of the freezer. Then the berries were placed in a medium-sized saucepan for boiling. 

After that, the all-important pectin was added to give the jam that jelly-like consistency. Then the whole 

mixture was brought to a rolling boil and the sugar was added. Once it was again brought to a boil, the hot jam was meticulously poured into glass canning jars and the jars were turned upside down to help seal the lid. 

Now all that was left was to clean up. The delicious blueberry jam is now residing with Mr. Dorrel and is for sale to recuperate the cost of making the jam.