inta maaynm ‘as [in/ta/maay nm ‘as]- jarred soap berries

/ Lisa

Last year, we shared a blog post for yel ‘as – whipped soap berries, Indian ice cream , and had a few people asking us how to preserve them! We were not sure ourselves, so we had to ask Stephen’s friend Carol from Gitwinksiłkw what the method was for preserving ‘as [‘as] – soapberries.

‘Yel as
‘Yel as that we made last summer – here we folded in fresh ma̱ḵ’ooxs – salmonberries . It had a fresh mild flavour, but was very seedy. I would use a less seedy berry to flavour it next time.

‘As does not grow naturally in laxyuubm Ts’msyen (Tsimshian territory) , however you may come across fresh ‘as by trade or some other means – so it is good to know how to preserve them in the event you get them!

fresh ‘as
If you get fresh ‘as, make sure you preserve them for later.

Its good to clean up the berries before you jar them – I picked out the leaves and gave them a quick rinse before putting them in the jars. ‘As has a bit of a tacky residue left on them when you go to handle them.

freshly picked ‘as
Fresh ‘as, freshly picked! I picked out the leaves and stems I came across, but left most of the ripe red maay (berries)  in the bowl.

These instructions are based off what Carol told us:

inta maaynm ‘as preparation
All you need for inta maaynm ‘as – jarred soapberries  is soapberries, jars and water. The pineapple was not used for jarring (we just happened to go grocery shopping that day)! Lol

1. Full your jar to below the rim (not right to the top).

soapberries in jars
I filled these jars below the start of the threads.

2. Add enough water to fill 1/4 of the jar.

soapberries and water in jars
For these mini jars, we used about 2 tablespoons of water. These were a little closer to 1/2 filled with water because I wanted enough juice to make yel ‘as later.

3. Same as with inta hoon nm misoo – jarred sockeye, you need to wipe the rims of the jars before putting the lids on. We used a damp paper towel to wipe the rims. If there is any residue on the rim before jarring, it can prevent the jars from sealing properly.

warm up jar lids on the stove
While you’re filling your jars with ‘as, you can warm up your lids on the stove. We warm them up on a low simmer for a few minutes before placing on the jars.

4. Place the warmed up jar lids onto your jars, and tighten the rings finger tight. If you over tighten the jars, they may not seal right.

soapberries in jar with lid
Only tighten the lids finger tight. Because there was air in the jars, they wanted to float up in the pot as we filled it with water! Steve put a metal butter knife on top to weigh some of them down.

5. Boil the jars for 20 minutes to seal them.

boiling soapberry jars
We jarred our ‘as on a low to medium boil. Once it started boiling on a rolling boil, we turned the temperature down on the stove. A rolling boil can move your jars around and potentially cause cracking!

6. Once the inta maaynm ‘as was finished boiling, we removed them from the pot and placed them on a clean dish towel to cool. I also wiped them down quickly to get the extra water off the jars, and placed a towel over top of the jars to allow them to cool slowly. If they cool too quickly, or if your house is chilly, the jars can crack. It’s easier if you have the jar grabbers for handling them, because they are quite hot right out of the pot.

Cooling the inta maaynm ‘as
Cooling the inta maaynm ‘as. I quickly snapped this picture before allowing to cool slowly between the dish towels.-

The hardest part is waiting for them to cool! They make a popping sound as the lids start to seal – it made us nostalgic for sockeye season!

We made these mini jars because it was hard for us to finish one of the larger jars without making a massive batch or eating over 2-3 days. These mini jars also work well as little Christmas gifts!

S&L – June 12, 2022

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