Jars of Love

 I was the lucky  recipient of two jars of Love this week.. What are jars of Love, you ask.. I'll tell you. jars of Love are goodies that friends or family make with Love, and pass on to others. These jars can be any fruit or vegetable canned, or any baked goods.  The jar on the left is chunky applesauce, made from the apples in my friend Anne's tree.the applesauce is awaiting fluffy pancakes with cinnamon.  The jar on the right is Door County Cherry Jam made by my friend, Carolyn and her sister, Janet..  For those you not from the Midwest, Door County  is in Northern Wisconsin. Many people migrate to Northern Wisconsin each summer to get the wonderful cherries, but now a local Chicago land grocery store sells frozen containers full of the ruby delights.  As you can see we have already opened the cherry jam, enjoying it on our morning whole wheat English muffin with peanut butter.

To the people, like me that don't do canning, fresh made canned goods are wonderful.  I take that back, before my husband's heart surgery, we made Lime pickles.  The recipe was from my 80yr old aunt, who had always made them, and they were like a family treasure. It was a two day process but well worth the work. Unfortunately, those pickled had a very high sodium content, so we don't make them any more.  Maybe that's why when someone gives us a jar of Love, we appreciate the gift so much.  I'll continue to bake the cookies, muffins, cupcakes, brownies etc., and give some of those gifts of love away, but somehow the jars of Love hold a special place in my heart. So for those of  you who do the canning of the fruits and vegetables, keep doing what you're doing, because when you give a jar away, it becomes a jar of Love to the recipient.