Jelly Vs. Jam

The canning has begun, on a smallish scale at least. I picked the berries but Dennis ended up making the jelly out of them tonight.  I suppose I did have a hand it in it, meaning I did a little stirring, poured in the sugar and put the lids on, but mostly it was him. As I said he's the real canner here!  

Plus, as he pointed out, he grew the berries so that's sort of the ultimate one up! 

Normally we wouldn't go the jelly route.  He and I prefer jam. I also actually like to make it more preserve like with whole berries in tact so I can use it for cobbler, like pie filling.  Tori, on the other hand, hates the seeds so jelly it was.  Honestly this pickin' has had some mega seeds though so I'd say this was the best way to go.  Gabs, in case  you wondered, rarely if ever eats any type of jam, jelly or anything, she's a chocolate girl all the way. 

She's on her second Hershey bar tonight, she doesn't think I know, and is sitting beside me as I type this quietly breaking off pieces every so often.  

We, Dennis and I, had this debate the other day on what is considered the go to choice for PB and J. Believe it or not I never actually ate PB and J until I was an adult.  If it was made in our house though, by my Dad, it was always grape or possibly strawberry but mostly grape.  

My Nannie (Paternal Great Grandmother) and Granny Goodlett (Paternal Grandmother) both grew concord grapes. Which was where said grape jelly came from.  The strawberry was store bought because no one grew strawberries that I can remember.  While today I'd take blackberry over grape any day I still have good memories of stealing grapes, warm from the sun, outside at Granny's house.  Concords have a distinct flavor and texture, the skins are thick, almost purple black when ripe and burst on your tongue.  The seed always seemed to be bigger than the actual fruit so I never ate more than one or two plus I don't think we were supposed to eat them anyway because they were used for the jam.

I really don't recall my Granny Goodlett canning anything but I'm sure she did.  I  know that Nannie did because my Dad helped her garden and can some.  It is funny when I think of the similarities between my Dad and Dennis it's actually kind of odd because both were very close to their Grandmothers and both gardened and canned with them. 

Anywho, for Dennis it was a blackberry PB and J or nothing else.  They didn't do grape and the blackberries were wild from their farm, no cheating with the tame kind like we have now.  I have to admit, he's right, blackberry is soooo much better than grape or strawberry. 

As I've said before I came late to the canning thing.  I had avid gardeners on both sides so I guess maybe it was a recessive gene that got kick started by Dennis.  My Maternal Grandmother, Granny Claunch, was also a big time gardener and canner.  She was a blackberry jam person too. Or rather she was a blackberry cobbler person and like me did the whole preserve thing.  I also remember her canning cherries.  She canned and froze a little of everything really. Throw back to the depression era and leftover from having a big family to feed I think.  

I recall sneaking goose berries at her house, which if you've had them you may wonder why the heck I'd sneak those, but I loved the sourness of them.  I always wished that I asked her what she did with them.  I don't think I ever saw her do anything but let them grow.  She had one tiny bush at the far back corner of her garage, to the left of her garden, and I remember sitting in the grass beside it pulling them off.  I seem to be in a reminiscent mood tonight, don't I? 

Well, I can hear the lids popping on the jelly so I guess they're going to seal.  There's a small bowl of "extra" jelly in the fridge, which Dennis has called dibs on for a PB and J for breakfast.  I have a feeling we may end up unsealing one of the jars sooner than later.  

It's almost bedtime for the girls so I'd better sign off. Question before I go though: 
Which do you prefer? Meaning what's your favorite, jelly or jam? And which flavor?  Comment down below on this post and leave me your vote.