It's harvest time, the season to spend effort on putting up some homemade jam—one of the gifts of summer. I've been doing this for years and can never get over the feeling of satisfaction I get when I open my pantry and see beautiful jars of homemade jam looking back at me. I enjoy this experience all through the fall and winter. And I can bet I'm chatting with the choir on this one!

Always on the hunt for jam-making inspiration and new recipes, I search books, magazines, and the Internet often. One treasure trove of information I've found is www.frugallysustainable.com. In fact, this pretty and enticing picture came off this all-time favorite website. Its brilliant author, Andrea, shares her basic recipe for the best homemade jam ever, which I've tried and love.

One of the coolest things about it is how it can be used for whatever fruit you have on hand, for instance:

• strawberries
• rhubarb
• peaches
• apricots
• plums
• nectarines
• blueberries
• raspberries
• blackberries
• sweet cherries

And I suspect the list of fruits that would work well could go on, but this is Andrea's starter list. And along with her recipe, she shares jam-making tips she's learned along the way:

1. Use Pomona's Universal Pectin, if you can find it. It jells fruit without using sugar or any preservatives. In this way, jams, jellies, and fruit spreads can be made without sugar or long boiling times.
2. Many of the new jam recipes coming out are making an attempt at using less sweetener. It's all good...but keep in mind that every time you reduce the sugar/honey/date sugar/etc., you're reducing the time the jam or jelly can safely be kept in the pantry or cellar before mold will grow on it.

Good tried-and-true books to turn to for no-fail advice on jam-making are:

• Canning and Preserving without Sugar
• Putting It Up With Honey: A Natural Foods Canning and Preserving Cookbook
• Put 'em Up! Fruit: A preserving Guide & Cookbook: Creative Ways to Put 'em Up, Tasty Ways to Use 'em Up