Preserving: Boiling and Bottling

Always the most interesting stage in making jelly - something rather soothing standing and stirring and watching as the liquid boils away, deepening colour as it reduces. 

Judgement is also called for - deciding when to start testing to see if it is ready to set which I always find a strange mixture of science and art, prompting me to reflect on the stages from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence and thence unconscious competence, realising that when it comes to jelly making I am between stages 3 and 4 (whereas with sewing felt decorations I am at stage 2 slowly progressing to stage 3 as my stiches get neater)

My grandmother always made jam, no doubt learnt from her mother and this got me wondering to how the discovered what worked and what didn't work, how they discovered the science behind the art of jam making, perhaps through trial and error and recognising that different fruits reacted differently and in combination without necessarily understanding the role that pectin plays.