Oh, the delight of sinking your teeth into a buttery biscuit smeared with homemade jam. Grandma (and maybe even mom) made it a tradition to preserve seasonal fruits so you could enjoy strawberries and peaches year round but in today’s go-go-go world, who can spare the time? Well, with this done-in-a- snap recipe, you do! Beyond the lip-smacking delight of homemade preserves spread on well … anything, here are a few other reasons doing it yourself can’t be beat. 
1. Quality Control. We know exactly what fruit is going into our preserves (USDA Certified Organic of course) and exactly how much added sugar (none please!). If your family is as big a fan of jam as we are, these are two areas you’ll want to monitor. When you buy non-organic jam you can bet that in addition to the fruit listed on the label, each jar contains a host of pesticides. It’s also likely full of sugar since the sweetener is a natural preservative. Because fruit is naturally sweet, we don’t think it needs much.
2. Diversity. Craving plum preserves? How about mango or cranberry? They’re all within reach since many of our dried fruits can be used to easily prepare preserves that aren’t found anywhere else. Then the real fun begins—pairing and savoring. How about fig jam with brie on walnut toast points? It’s at your fingertips.
3. Cool points. Life just seems to come a little easier for some. Who doesn’t want to be in that crowd? Make your own preserves to earn instant wow-factor points and make your mark as a do-it-yourself gift giver. Jars can be paired with cheese and wine in a festive gift basket, or even better deliver a bag of your favorite Made In Nature Fruit and the below recipe. Now, that’s the gift that truly keeps giving.
Making your own preserves is as easy as 1, 2, 3–which you’ll see in the below video. We love these homemade mango preserves used as salmon topping or simply eaten as is. Enjoy!
