The sweet sunlight and the refreshing rains have nurtured red, ripe raspberries and plump blackberries. Chokecherries, purple grapes and tart apples hang like juicy ornaments.

It’s jelly- and jam-making season. Anyone who has ever picked wild fruit or berries for jam or jelly knows the wonderful and stressful feeling when it sets up.

If it doesn’t get firm, it’s a big disappointment.

When I was growing up, my family enjoyed picking berries and fruits. Mom made jams and jellies, and they were a work of art. There is nothing like the fine fruity aroma of jelly simmering in a big kettle on the stove.

Karen Rose Wils

The pretty little jars of jam had such nice color with bits of summer ripe fruit showing. The jellies were clear deep red with chokecherry juice or shiny purple with grape juice.

I remember the process. Mom would skim off the foam as the fragrant juices and sugar boiled. She placed the foam on a cooling plate for us kids to eat up with spoons.

After the pectin was added and jars all carefully sealed with hot paraffin, Mom would check them and smile with satisfaction when the stuff got hard.

There’s a special knack to making jelly, and I must admit it takes some practice.

A week ago, I mixed up a bunch of raspberry freezer jam. It’s about the simplest way to make jam. Even though I followed the directions perfectly, mine didn’t jell up as nicely as my mother’s would have.

I blamed it on the heat and humidity.

Almost every jam or jelly maker has had that experience at one time or another. After picking, cleaning and preparing the fruit, soupy jelly is a license to swear!

I have difficulties with things that are supposed to jell. I’m a failure at Jell-O making. Even little kids can follow the directions and make Jell-O.

My red, white and blue layered fourth of July Jell-O turned out more like splotches of red and splatters of blue. It didn’t set up properly.

Most of us recall helping our moms make the traditional Sunday meal side dish with strawberry Jell-O and a cut-up banana.

From Jell-O to jams and then jellies, yesterday’s kitchens were sweet! My mom made the best wild cherry jelly by using a mixture of tart apple juice with the chokecherries to ensure enough pectin to make the cooled jelly a perfect consistency.

Now, finally after many years of experience, I can make some pretty decent jelly and jam.

Grape stains on the cupboard, apple juice boiling, the smell of crushed blackberries and sugar, a steamy hot canner — these are the joys of jelly making.

Best wishes for a perfect jell!