If you have an empty mason jar, you’re going to need to fill that jar.

It’s the law of the jungle, and it’s also the law of my kitchen.

For that matter, it has been the law of every woman’s kitchen since mason jars were invented. That’s why recipes like squash salsa and tomato chutney were invented. Have you ever had a craving for tomato chutney? No. But somebody, somewhere had a jar and some tomatoes – and perhaps some chutney, whatever that is – and she needed to fill. That. Jar.

That’s why your Meemaw used to have shelves upon shelves of pickled things, even though pickles made Papaw burp.

This past weekend was tomato canning day at our house.

The tomato harvest ended long ago, of course. Zack likes to bottle up the extra fruit, but I hate to sweat.

So our compromise is to freeze the tomatoes when they come off the vine in June or July. In October, we water bath them using a propane stovetop on the front porch rather than inside the house.

We still get tomatoes, and neither of us gets homicidal. Win/win.

This year, though we had more than 100 pounds of frozen tomatoes to can, we ended up with only nine quarts of crushed tomatoes, plus several jars of ladeled-off tomato juice.

It’s amazing how much those things cook down.

What I’m saying is this: I have jars. And nothing in them.

Luckily, we’ve also been trying to eat down the freezer over this break. I have reached the part of the freezer where I apparently went crazy in the frozen fruits aisle.

So I’ve been using up the frozen tropical fruits and bananas in smoothies. I made the bag of strawberries into a slush.

And I made half of a bag of blueberries into a blueberry syrup for pancakes.

See, my family loves pancakes. I am a pancake purist, myself. I think a good pancake needs only a bit of butter or maybe some syrup to make it really sing.

But my family likes chocolate chips sprinkled in or a fancy syrup drizzled on top. Having the toppings available separately suits us all – purists and hedonists alike.

Plus, this is a good recipe to have in your pocket for those days when you are deep in the throes of waffle- or pancake-making and realize you’re all out of syrup.

BLUEBERRY-LEMON SYRUP

Ingredients
1 cup frozen blueberries (or other fruit of your choice)
1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Optional: 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 Tablespoon cold water

Directions
■ Place fruit, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, salt, zest, and lemon juice into medium saucepan. Place pan over medium heat. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly. (If you need to do something else in the kitchen at the same time, switch to low heat and stir occasionally. It will take closer to 15 minutes for your syrup to come together, but there’s less chance it will scorch.) Syrup should come to a low boil. Keep cooking until the syrup thickens to your liking.
■ Taste (carefully! It’s hot) and add more sugar if the taste is too tart. If desired, add cornstarch slurry to thicken the syrup; note that you should always mix cornstarch with cold water first to avoid cooking the starch into tiny little dumplings. Serve warm. Jar up any remaining syrup and refrigerate for later.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.