Homemade Triple Berry Jam--the lazy way

I'm not always a lazy sort of cook, but lately I've been in that mode where I want things to be as fuss-free as possible. Good food, but no stress, you know?

I'm also appalled at how much jam costs these days and how not-tasty it is.

We're still experimenting with low sugar or no sugar jams for My omnivore, but I recently had the urge to make some triple berry jam for myself. The recipe on the insert that comes with a package of pectin looked easy but I just hadn't gotten around to it.

Then I was in Whole Foods the other day and I came across one of those two pint containers of fresh fruit.

"Why shouldn't it be that easy?" I thought.

Now I know, it's not the same as berries picked at the peak of flavor, but they're clean, cut into pieces and not even frozen.

Turns out they made jam that's just fine and if you're like me and you don't feel like canning, it's a small enough batch to fit into a couple of pint sized Fido jars that you don't have to even "process."

Easy Triple Berry Jam

2 pints of mixed berries like strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
3.5 cups sugar
3 Tbs liquid pectin

First we cleaned the jars and rubber gaskets -- you could do this by running them in the dishwasher.

Mash the berries with a potato masher, which I did right in my small 4 quart pot. Add the sugar and bring this mixture to a boil.

Add the pectin and this is important, keep the mixture at a full rolling, not-stopping-even-when-I-stir boil for EXACTLY one minute.

Turn off the heat and let it cool slightly. In the mean time set the rubber gaskets on the jars.

Fill the jars with jam and wipe the rims clean. Seal it up and let the jam cool before refrigerating.

For us this makes the perfect amount of jam--about 2 1/2 pints worth. I'll go through that in a month--well before it spoils and it's ridiculously easy to make.

Lazy cooking...