Strawberry Season is here!

Gary and I took a drive to Brentwood area (No. Calif) to see if we could find cucumbers for his favorite bread and butter pickles. I should have known better - too early in the season for cucumbers. But we did find....

STRAWBERRIES!!

They weren’t just any strawberries - they were from the field behind the fruit stand. And they smelled heavenly.

We bought a flat (that is like 12 baskets), took them home, and thought of all of the wonderful things that we could do with a flat of fresh, ripe (did I mention there wasn’t a green one in the bunch!), strawberries... mmmm

So, here was the list:

1. Eat plain strawberries (which is what I did as I made the list),


2. Strawberry ice cream,


3. Strawberry shortcake,


4. Strawberries with champagne (naaahhh.. I don’t like the bubbly that much)


5. Strawberry jam.

Gary opted for number two,

I opted for number five, and
we both were guilty of number one.

(did I mention there wasn’t a green one in the bunch!), strawberries... mmmm

I hulled one basket for Gary. Then set out to take care of the jam. Because I do a lot of canning, I have all of the equipment on hand. One of the things that I like about canning is reusing the jars. I don’t like throwing things away and love the idea of recycling jars. Some time ago, I saw some pectin that was designed for low or no sugar jams and jellies. I don’t like super sweet jams and jellies so, I picked up a box of this pectin... And I’m so glad that I did!

The jam...

Strawberry jam is one of the easiest things to make. All it takes is strawberries, sugar, pectin (and not even that if you are willing to cook the berries for 30+ minutes) and a little bit of butter.

I hulled and mashed enough berries to make 6 cups of fruit. I heated that in an enamel pot (I don’t know why I use enamelware - I just do...) and added 1/2 t of butter. The butter helps to keep the foaming down. And as that was heating, I added 1/4 c. of sugar mixed with the pectin. I brought that to a rolling boil, then added the remaining 3 3/4c. sugar.

BTW - if you think this is a lot of sugar, the recipe for ‘normal’ strawberry jam is: 5c. berries to 7 c. sugar!!

I brought that back to a rolling boil, and once the boil hit, stirred it and boiled it for one minute. Then I removed it from the heat, skimmed the foam, and ladled into sterilized jars, put the lids and bands on them, and inverted the full, hot jars for 5 minutes.

And there you have it - Strawberry Jam!

The taste -- Ohmygosh - tastes heavenly! Not as sweet and sugary as normal jam - tons of fruit in each bite - and the local berry flavor.... out of this world!