James Wright said, "I have eaten the first fruit of the season, and I am in love." Isn't this perfect praise for the jewels of spring and summer? And one of the best ways we can hang onto the taste of the season is to preserve those wonderful fruits.

What better way to have the flavor of strawberries, for instance, linger through the long cold months of winter than to be able to enjoy some delicious jam on my homemade bread? So when I was studying the SURE-JELL pectin box the other day I found some fun and helpful information that also lead me to their website, www.SureJell.com. What a helpful site - lots of great jam and jelly recipes as well as helpful tips on how to make award-winning jams and jellies.

But to begin: The year was 1912. Robert Douglas had been performing research in fruit chemistry, when it finally happened. Pectin was extracted. Later he found that when added to fruit juices, pectin greatly shortened the time of jam and jelly making. The rest is history, as they say.

Since then, SURE-JELL has continued Douglas' research and has even improved jam-making techniques. For instance, most of us would like to eliminate that extra step of boiling jars when making jam and jelly. SURE-JELL found an alternative: the inversion method. They suggest that when filling your jam jars, simply make sure the hot fruit mixture is immediately poured into scalded jars, covered, and inverted for 5 minutes, then turn upright. After jars are cool, check seals.

Not only does SURE-JELL continue to work on better jam-making methods, they also provide us tasty and unique jam and jelly recipes. A good example is their Strawberry Banana Jam recipe. I'd never considered using bananas in jam-making before, but what a great idea. Let's give this recipe a try and report back.

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Strawberry Banana Jam

4 3/4 c prepared fruit (about 2 quarts fully ripe strawberries and 3 fully ripe medium bananas)
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
6 3/4 C sugar
1 box SURE-JELL fruit pectin
1/2 tsp butter

Stem and thoroughly crush strawberries, 1 layer at a time. Measure 3 1/4 C into 6- or 8-quart saucepot. Mash bananas thoroughly. Measure 1 1/2 C; add to saucepot. Stir in lemon juice.

Measure sugar into separate bowl. Stir fruit pectin into fruit in saucepot. Add butter. Bring mixture to full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Quickly stir in all sugar.

Return to full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

Ladle quickly into hot sterilized jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Invert jars 5 minutes, then turn upright. After jars are cool, check seals. Yield: about 8 (1-cup) jars.

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