The Bottom Line – Being Thankful

November 23, 2011 | by Joseph Brownell

We live in a society driven by information but I still remember card catalog classes in middle school and very early on in high school; the internet and its place in schools was just being established. Now with laptop computers, smartphones and tablets we have a wealth of information at our fingertips. There’s no need to remember how many feet are in a mile; we can Google it in a matter of moments (go ahead . . .  I’ll give you a moment . . . it’s 5,280 by the way). No matter the lightning speed of your latest device, there’s no better information tool than first- hand experience.

Pomegranates and their abundance are one of my favorite things in the fall. Last year I procrastinated and didn’t make a recipe I’d been dying to try. So this year when the pomegranates hit the produce floors I snatched some up to make pomegranate and pear jam. Problem was, I had never made jam or jelly before; I would just go to the store and pick some up off the shelf.

The recipe itself was straightforward but the directions on the canning jars were like they had been written in Japanese. I had no idea what I was up against. Google delivered massive amounts of conflicting information so I called the one person I knew would have the answers- my grandmother. I remember growing up we would always be sent jams, jellies and fresh baked breads during the holidays. As a child and young adult you take these skills for granted. We don’t need to know a recipe for our own cake batter; Betty Crocker has it readily available on the shelves of our grocery stores.  We don’t realize sometimes just how easy or hard doing something from scratch can truly be.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I think we should all appreciate and be thankful for the wealth of advice and experience the older generations, be it family or not, have to offer us. My grandmother was able to explain the process of sealing the jars in much easier terms than the back of the box was able to and in turn helped make the recipe a success. This year Grams, it’ll be me sending you jam for Christmas so get that toast ready.