Disaster averted- what fun to learn something new!

Friends, I opened some plum jam today with eager anticipation and was pretty immediately chagrined. If I'd had a wick, I could have made a candle, such was the yukky, waxy, stiffness of this "jam." So disappointed, not least because how sad to dump all this good, fresh food, I went back to food52, the foodie website from which I'd procured the recipe, and wrote back to all who'd made this jam with great success and rave reviews. Help, I pleaded! Help! One woman mentioned that different plums have different pectin levels such that plum jam can be quite tricky with regards to getting its consistency right.  She gave me some pro-canner tips- did you know that you can unseal your jars, dump all your jam back in a pot, thin it down, bring it back to a boil and reseal the jars? Brilliant! So, I added some water as she'd suggested, a bit of apple juice, a little more 5 spice, boiled it, canned it and resealed. I'm going to wait a day or two per her suggestion before I open this jar, but if what was left in the pan is any indicator, this is going to be as delicious as originally promised. How exciting! I love learning new tricks like this!

It's pouring brickbats here, Oliver is -wow!- still napping but I'll soon have to wake him to go get Jack. I hope Mr. J had a great day!