I know it's been a while since I have posted. I've been really busy with the kids. The school here tried to cram every possible activity they could into the last month of school and 4 baseball games a week has kept us hopping. Now that baseball has ended for one boy and there is only a week and half of school left I feel like I have a little more time. I'm trying to soak up every extra second with my hubby while we have this wonderful assignment and I actually get to see him everyday. To spend some quality time together as a family this weekend we went strawberry picking. Oh what fun it was to see our children tromp hike through that strawberry fields to find the perfect berries. And by the way the Quonset View Farm is a cute little place and they were so very nice there. A little more than 5 quarts later...I was wondering what in the world I was going to do with all these strawberries...especially considering Miss Mess and I are really the only two in the family that eat them. That's a lot of strawberries folks. JAM that is all I could think of that would use them all and really quickly. Well almost all I still have about a quart left. I think a pie will have to be make tomorrow.
Now I'm really lucky that I have a mother that never gets rid of anything and the last time I was there I found a water bath pan! Yes of course I brought it home with me. Making jam takes me back to my childhood when I spent many hours in the plum tree outside my Grandma's house picking plums then helping her make plum jelly. I can remember sitting around her dinning room table pealing plums, and helping her mash them. Listening to her and my mom talk the entire time. I remember the heat and smells from the fruit cooking. So today took me back a little, as Miss Mess and I cored and smashed strawberries. Of course the boys tried to help a little but they really could careless about the process they just want to eat the jam.
This was the first time I've done jam by myself, so I was a little nervous, but it was not near as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Of course I found a few little tools that made my job a little easier, the jar lifter the funnel, and the lid lifter, in the canning section and that big ol' super center we all know...
First things first, place your lids in a small pan of hot water. Not boiling just really really hot. I keep my burner on 2 for this.
Then start your water bath pan and add your jars, not boiling just really really hot also.
Now you need to cut and smash strawberries until you have 4 cups of smushed mashed strawberries. Place in a heavy bottom sauce pan a pretty big one. Add 4 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. Heat on low until all the sugar has melted then turn up the heat. Stir until mixture reaches a rolling boil and you can not stir it down. Then keep boiling until it reaches 220 degrees. It takes about 10 minutes stirring constantly. If you take it off the heat to soon the jam will be runny. You can add about 1/2 tsp of butter to keep the foam down, and trust me this stuff will foam!
Once you've reached 220 degrees. Carefully remove your jars from the hot water (when you get the jars out of the water turn up the heat) pour out any water and add the mixture. Leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the jar. Once you have your jars filled take a non-metallic spatula and scrape down the inside of the jars to remove any air bubbles. Add more of the mixture to top off if needed.
Once you have the jars filled carefully remove the lids from the hot water one at a time and place on the jars.
One of the handy little tools I found. It's a magnet ;-) made getting those lids out easy peasy!
Once you have the lids on the jars, place the rings on and hand tighten.
Place back into the water bath pan that now should have boiling water in it, if you turned up the heat when you pulled the jars out.
Boil for 12 to 15 minutes, make sure your jars have at least 2 inches of water over the lids.
Remove from the boiling water and let stand until cool. The tops of the jars should not pop up and down. If it does the jar did not seal. Place in the refrigerator and it may be used for up to 3 weeks. The jars that do seal are good for 6 to 9 months if kept in a cool dark place.
Of course in our house we keep one out to use now!
Notice the color difference in the top jar compared to the bottom??? Well the top one is sugarless. I tried a new product for me called Real Fruit Pectin Low or No Sugar. I made 3 jars with this and I guess we'll see. I just followed the insturctions included with the product. Just recently my daddy was put on a "cut the sugar out" diet. I plan on taking these to him when I get to go visit this summer.
