Photo by Cheri of Kitchen Simplicity
It is here! The round-up from Under the High Chair's very first Virtual Jam Swap!
Exactly five months ago I
put out the call for you to send me your jam for a friendly
virtual jam swap. Not knowing how you would respond, but with the honourable goal to 'inspire and be inspired', I waited for the submissions to come in for my first ever blogging event.
Ever so slowly, during the heat of July, they started trickling into my inbox. By autumn and the peak of harvest, I had a nice tidy number of contributions. I finally put a deadline for submissions, which lit a fire under a handful of you, and the last jam was swapped just a few days ago.
I was very impressed and thrilled to have twenty-five submissions. 25
scrumptious, sophisticated and stunning submissions.
You all should be proud of yourselves, this is one impressive jam party.Thank you, thank you, to each and every one of you who contributed your jam or jelly and took the time to help make this event a success.
Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to this year's participants...
The talented Cheri from
Kitchen Simplicity gets us off to a rip-roaring start with her sophisticated
Grapefruit Cranberry Marmalade. A stunning result from a simple recipe, this marmalade would make wonderful homemade Christmas gifts.

Apple Pie Jam is usually teeth-achingly sweet, but Kim from
Flavorista wisely modified the recipe - including doubling the apples - and gave us a yummy
Apple Pie Jam no pantry should be without!

Those super-gals at
Flavorista have been busy! Contributor Tracey submitted this
Apricot Jam, a tribute to childhood summers spent canning along side her mother.
Cookie Baker Lynn took full advantage of her thriving blueberry patch this summer and jarred up some sophisticated
Lemon Blueberry Preserves. Luckily for her family, they will be enjoying the flavours of summer all winter long.

Hulling ground cherries is indeed a labor of love, but I'm sure my fellow Montreal blogger, Candace of
Cheese and Olive would agree that it is well worth the effort. Her recipe for
Ground Cherry Jam is one I'll be bookmarking, making and swirling into homemade vanilla ice cream next summer.

The very creative Cheryl of
Backseat Gourmet used a children's book as inspiration for her original
Coconut Jam. Now this would be the ideal recipe if you got the canning itch during the winter when all the fresh fruit is hard as rocks.

My last-minute contribution to this swap was a
Quebec Pear and Rhubarb Butter with Honey & Green Cardamom. Fruit butters have been an attractive option for me this year as they are sweetened by the slow-cooked fruit and not by a pile of white sugar. Of all the spreads I've made, this is my favorite!

Raise your hand, if you've experienced a jam malfunction! Fortunately, the lovely Melanie from
Beck and Call has worked out all the kinks for us in her recipe for
Spiced Plum Jam. The addition of fragrant cloves and cinnamon makes it sound all Christmas-y. Sounds like a great gift idea to me.

If you've been searching for a low-sugar, no commercial pectin jam recipe, Robin from
Hippo Flambé delivers with her tempting
Traditional Strawberry Jam with Cointreau & Drambuie. Thanks, Robin! I'll have mine drizzled over vanilla ice cream, please.

I sighed with envy and my mouth puckered (in a good way) reading about Julie's
Nanking Cherry Jelly; don't ask me why, but it seems so romantic to have a cherry tree in your backyard. The ever-industrious author of
Dinner with Julie wasn't about to let hers go to waste and the cherries went from tree to table before the birds even had a chance to eat them.

Following in her mother's jam-making footsteps, Michele from
Chocolate Teapot recreated a favorite jam,
Peach and Apricot, and learned a lot along the way. Sounds like you are on your way to a long and happy life of making jam, Michele!

Lisa from
Feeding My Curiosity is a girl after my own heart. Not only did she use the. most. adorable. jars ever, she also incorporated my favorite vice into her recipe for
Red Pepper Jam with Tequila. (hint: it's not the peppers).

Thanks to
Flavorista contributor Barr for giving me a use for ALL my mint! Every summer my mint patch takes over, but now I can help keep it in check by making Barr's
Mint Jelly. Now I just need a side of lamb for my freezer!

I like to think that I'm not the only one who eats jam with a spoon. I mean, it certainly looks like Kelsey, a.k.a
The Naptime Chef, has been dipping into her gorgeous
Eternal Summer Apricot Jam--and has nearly finished the jar! I certainly wouldn't have been able to stop at just one bite.

If her vibrant photo doesn't grab your attention first,
Rumahama's amazing recipe for
Peach Brandy Jam will make you sit up and take notice. I'm loving this combination and have to agree with Ruhama when she muses about having to get into a toast habit.

Attempting to multitask while making jam for the first time may be not such a hot idea, as budding gourmet and green blogger Andrea of
A.O.K (Okay with Andrea) recently discovered. Her
Raspberry-Apple Jam recipe sounds delish, but did it make the cut? You'll have to read about her misadventures to find out. Hey, there's even a free wine tip!

Now I haven't tried my hand at making marmalade yet, but Cathy's mouth-watering
Three Citrus Marmalade and reassuring step-by-step instructions leave me with no excuse not to. It's obvious this author of
Bread Making with The Bread Experience knows her way around canning as well as bread baking. She sure can dress up a jam jar, too!

Don't you just love the flavour combination of this
Plum Cinnamon Jam? Maria of
Two Peas and Their Pod used her own backyard plums for this vibrant freezer jam. Now I'd love to try a plum-cinnamon fruit leather... Maria?

By the looks of things, Kimberly made a good move when she captured the essence of spring with this
Rhubarb Jam. Her clear step-by-step instructions over at
Flavorista had me salivating and I've vowed to turn more rhubarb into jam next spring instead of using it up in my usual steady diet of crisps and crumbles.

Gabrielle from Shop Wise Bags
Innovative Gourmet rounded up the kids and went on a canning marathon. Among the bounty was
Peach Raspberry Marmalade or 'Killer Jam' as it was nicknamed. Sounds killer good to me, Gabrielle! Way to get those kiddos in the kitchen.
Culinary Travels Of A Kitchen Goddess author George's first autumnal preserve of the season was an apple and plum jelly which she named
Early Autumn Blush. It gained its name because the jelly is a gorgeous pale rose colour, which reminded her of the pale red blush hue of the apples. Just gorgeous, George!

I would love to request a tutorial from Simona of
Briciole, as she sounds like she has the fine details of jam making down pat. The colours alone on her
Conserva di Frutta (fruit preserves) are stunning; I can only imagine how colourful they are on the palate.

Elizabeth from
Guilty Kitchen doesn't seem like your Jane-average canning woman and the
Not yo Mama's Apple Butter she submitted is
sick --in the most awesome of ways. I'm loving this recipe and will definitely be trying it before apple season is over.

My mouth watered at this dark and seductive
Bing Cherry Jam from fellow Montreal blogger, Elaine of
A Series of Kitchen Experiments. Elaine & friends gobbled up this jam so fast there was none left to bring to my actual swap! That's OK, it looks so good, we understand how it disappeared so quickly!

Kelly from
No Empty Chairs showed us that a healthy choice can be great with her
Low-Sugar Peach Butter. I'm ALL about the fruit butters, and this decadent recipe is on my short list for next summer.
That's it!! Have you been inspired?
Please share your feedback, encouragement or questions in the comments section below. I'd LOVE to hear what you think....and if this is an event you would like to see happen again next year.
I've got this crazy idea in my head that I am going to attempt to can my way though this round-up next summer. Wouldn't that be something?
I'd have to give up gardening, that's for sure.