At the beginning of July, we started Blueberries for Sal.
This has long been a favorite book at our house, but our original copy had completely worn out, and our youngest didn’t remember ever reading it before, so it was a new story to him.
We loved sharing this story together!  He loved Little Sal, he loved Little Bear, and the whole book just made us both smile! 🙂
Honey Cinnamon Blueberry Freezer Jam
- 4 cups mashed blueberries
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, optional
- 1/2 – 1 cup honey (I think we used closer to 1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 cup water
- 3 teaspoons Pomona’s pectin powder
- 4 – 12 teaspoons calcium water (comes in the pectin box)
- Make calcium water (follow instructions on the package insert) and store in refrigerator.
- Wash and rinse containers (I used wide-mouth glass jars).
- Put blueberries, lemon juice, cinnamon, and honey in a large bowl and stir well.
- Bring 3/4 cup water to a boil and put in blender (I used my Vitamix) or food processor. Add pectin powder to water and blend 1-2 minutes (about 20-30 seconds in the Vitamix!) until all the powder is dissolved.
- Add the hot pectin/water mixture to fruit. Â Stir until well mixed.
- Add 4 teaspoons of the calcium water and stir until it gels. Â If it doesn’t gel right away (mine did), continue adding 1 teaspoon calcium water and stirring well until it gels.
- Fill containers to within 1/2″ of top (since I used glass jars, I left about 1″ of headspace for expansion). Â Put on lids and store in refrigerator or freezer, for longer storage. Â When you remove a frozen one from the freezer, just keep it in the fridge until it thaws, and then it’s ready to use. Â It lasts at least a week in the fridge.
You can find more Before Five in a Row posts here:
Planning for Before Five in a Row
Resource Links:
Delightful Learning
Homeschool Creations
Five in a Row
Linking to: Â BFIAR Link-Up, A Wise Woman, Raising Arrows, Raising Homemakers, Tot School Gathering Place
Stephanie says
Where did you get the "B" printables? Thanks!!
Joy Kincaid says
I think those printables came from the free fold 'n learn packets at Five in a Row (link to FIAR in the post–you have to subscribe to their blog to get the Fold 'n Learn materials).
Kaysha says
LOVE the blueberry themes!
Joy Kincaid says
Thanks for stopping by, Kaysha!
Caroline says
Love, love, love book-based units. Thanks for sharing what you all did with this BFIAR book!
Joy Kincaid says
Thank you, Caroline!
Star says
Hello,
I love how organize you are!! I have a question?? Do you know if the original print is better than the new print for five in a row. Before five in a row and Volume 1.
Thank you!
Joy Kincaid says
Thank you! I really don’t know how the original compares to the new…I purchased a used copy, and it worked fine for us.
Lilyofthevalley - Tanya says
Sweet! I remember reading that book to my losers ones when they were younger. We borrowed not from the library. 🙂 glad to hear that you don't have to do them in order. This one or the blue boat one may be our first pick! 🙂
We are busy with VBS this week plus the garden work so we aren't starting until Sept. but we have lots of blueberries in the freezer.
Blessings Joy!!!!
Joy Kincaid says
Sounds like you've been busy, Tanya! We've got a busy couple of weeks coming up, too. Have fun!
♥Joy
Ginny Gafford says
It seems that you didn't go through these books in order and I love that! For reason I had in my head that I had to go through the books in the order they are listed in the BFIAR book. You can tell I'm a newbie at all this homeschooling stuff! 🙂
My 3 year old and I went blueberry picking toward the end of June and this book would've been perfect in the middle of all that! I'm kicking myself right now that I didn't have this book going when we went picking. Oh well, you live and your learn, right?!
I have so many blueberries in our freezer we could make jam once we read this book. And we have 4 blueberry bushes outside that we're growing in our own yard so we can talk about them too.
Thanks for another great post on your BFIAR learning. I'm loving it, obviously! 🙂
Joy Kincaid says
Yes, I'm not doing them in order! I picked out the ones that seemed to go more with a particular season, and I plan to do them that way. I like to keep things seasonal. 🙂 You'll still have next summer to do the blueberry thing with your little one! Or, since you do have your own bushes and some in the freezer, that will work out great, too!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Ginny! I still have another BFIAR post that I hope to put up soon, and then I'll be caught up to where we are now. Right now we're doing "Kittens for Keeps," which is another great one for summer.
Ginny Gafford says
Well I like your order better! I never even thought to do things seasonly. That makes the most sense because you can use nature in the study, like you did with the blueberries.
Keep on posting!!! 🙂