About Me

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Hello! I am Diana, wife to Ted. We are the parents to one miraculous 6-year-old little princess. Aside from my daughter my earthly passions include home-cooking at an intermediate level, Music, knitting, photography, learning Adobe Photoshop, digital scrapbooking, and online social networking.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Scrumptious Strawberry Season, Vol. 1

Remember how I said that I never intended for my blog to become a forum for reviewing Pampered Chef Products? Well, I also never intended for it to be laden with recipes for jams and jellies. I guess it is just the season for it. Here is yet another sweet sandwich spread tutorial for your viewing pleasure (or boredom...)!

Strawberry season in Maine starts late and is pretty short. Depending on how the spring weather has been it runs from late June through early July. So you have to plan picking times strategically to avoid under ripe berries at the beginning of the season, and worse, over ripe berries that start to get mushy and grow mold at the end of the season. If you get them at just the right time, picking can be fun and the strawberries are just plain beautiful!Where we live we are fortunate to have many farms around that open up for "pick your own." The prices this year were around $1.90/lb which is about 1/2 of store price. I am not sure how many pounds of strawberries I picked this year, but I went twice and got this much (a counter top full, hehehe):

My primary objective was to make as much Jam as I could. It's a way to bottle up the season for enjoyment year round, and because jam lasts for more than a year after it is canned, it makes great Christmas gifts in the food baskets that I am so fond of giving out, so really I can never make too much. On to the recipe!

I used the recipe given in the insert that comes with the Certo liquid pectin.

4 cups of crushed strawberries

7 cups of white sugar (yes seven!)

1 packet of Certo Liquid Pectin

I start by filling the canner about 1/2 full with water and bringing it to a boil. This may take awhile as the canner is basically a giant stock pot as you will see below. I fill it by pouring the water in with a 2 quart pitcher, the pot is way too heavy to move once it is filled with water!

Once the water is boiling I place the washed jars inside and boil them for 10 minutes to sterilize them. Then I turn down the heat, leaving the jars in the hot water until they are needed (I also sterilize the ladle & funnel). The next step is chopping and crushing the berries with a pastry blender:

Then I get everything ready to go stoveside - The sugar, the saucepan for cooking the jam, and the canner full of hot jars:

I also wash the new lids with hot soapy water, and then rinse and dry them very well.

Next, I measure 4 cups of crushed berries into the saucepan (if you have any crushed berries leftover, save them for the next batch of jam, or use them in strawberry shortcake or as an ice cream topping). Then I combine it with the sugar.

Bring the sugar and berry mixture to rapid boil that can not be stirred down with a spoon. Add the packet of liquid pectin and boil for exactly 1 minute more. Remove from heat and skim as much foam from the top as possible (as quickly as possible):

While waiting for the berries to come to a boil, use metal tongs to remove jars from the hot water. Place the hot jars on a paper towel or dish towel, they should dry out very quickly. Have the jars ready right next to the saucepan. After the jars are out, bring the water in the canner back to a boil (make sure to have the canning rack up and resting on the sides of the pan, you don't want to try fishing it out when the water is boiling!)

After skimming the foam, immediately ladle the hot liquid into the jars, using the canning funnel. Fill the jars to 1/8 inch of lip. This recipe makes about 7 half pint jars. Something I learned the hard way a few years ago is never to cook a double batch of jam, it just DON'T WORK for some reason (meaning it doesn't jell or "set"). So when doing large amounts of canning you have to cook one batch at a time, so it is important to be very organized and keep a sink of soapy water to throw your utensils and pans in so they will be ready for the next batch.

Use a wet paper towel to make sure the rim is free of any of the liquid because it will mess up the seal when you put the lids on!

Place the clean, dry lids on top of the jars, making sure the rubber seal is sitting squarely on the rim of the jar.

Screw the lid rings on tightly and place the jars, one by one, onto the canning rack. SLOWLY lower the rack into the boiling water. The water should cover 1-2 inches above the tops of the jars. Place the lid on the canner and boil the jars for 10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, turn off the heat, remove the lid of the canner and use metal tongs to lift the canning rack out of the water. Use a pot holder to hold the rack handles and slowly remove the rack from the canner. Using a potholder (the Jars are VERY hot!!!) place the jars, one by one, onto a dish towel or paper towel. Let the jars rest for 10 minutes, you should hear all kinds of "pops" as the jars seal in the open air. After 15 minutes, test the seal of the jar by pressing the center of the lid with your finger. If it does not pop up and down, it is sealed! If it is not sealed, process it in the canner for another 10 minutes. If it still doesn't seal, store the jam in the fridge and it will keep for 3 weeks or more.

Once sealed, let the jars cool to room temperature for 24 hours. After 24 hours, tip one of the jars. The contents should be "set" and not slosh around inside the jar. Properly sealed and set jams and jellies last a year or more stored in a cool dry place! If for some reason the jam has not set, but remains sealed, it still makes WONDERFUL pancake and ice cream topping, also a GREAT gift!

I ended up doing two batches which yielded a dozen 1/2 pint jars and a 1 pint jar (pictured here with one of my more underwhelming loaves of homemade bread): I was pretty tired by the second batch and I actually started my first true kitchen fire when the strawberry/sugar mixture boiled over into the drip pan. It was easily put out with a splash of water. I also burned my finger when I touched the inside of the canner by accident! So learn from my mistakes and don't can tired! I wish I could have done more, but I have not had a chance to pick again, and I am guessing this past weekend was the peak. I did have some leftover berries...which you will make there appearance later in Vol. 2 of Scrumptious Strawberry season!

Anyway...this is the first time I have made strawberry jam and had all the jars seal and set properly, so I am excited. We have already demolished 1/2 pint of the jam, and it is so good and so fresh tasting. Now I am looking forward to raspberry and blueberry season! Thanks for reading!

-Diana, The Ivy Kitchen

7 comments:

Becky said...

Oh, Diana! You've done it again! This blog is a wonderful place to get inspired to spend more cooking time in the kitchen...and of course, EAT! That jam looks wonderful and I'm sure, tastes just as wonderful!
One thing to keep in mind, is that you can also seal jams by using melted wax, in case one of your jars fails to seal, it's a good back up plan, or use on odd jars that you don't have lids for. (You can melt wax and pour a bit over the top of the jam. After letting it cool, it will tend to shrink, but you can then pour another layer over that. It keeps well for several months if it's sealed tight.) side note: melt wax carefully--double boiler is best. It is flamable...another fire if you're not careful! Glad you were able to extinguish your fire quickly!

Anonymous said...

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!! My fave pic is the one all the canned jam with the bread in the middle, its making me hungry!!!!!!!:)
It looks fun to do too, but the baby would never occupy himself long enough to let me try, lol.

Nina said...

I LOVE strawberries and I've never made strawberry jam. One day, I will make some with your instructions.

Jamie said...

that jam looks so good!! yummm now i'm hungry lol

Kristle said...

Oh Diana, those berries look soooo good!! So glad the jam turned out good!! You are so very talented!

*A Daycare Life* said...

Oh Girl it looks GREAT! My Mom is the Jam Lady, that's the name of her company and her license plate LOL. I think you did an amazing job. You're a great inspiration to cooks all around. I know you've inpsired me to get back into the kitchen when I look at your blog! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful cooking adventures with us here at the Ivy Kitchen!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for posting instructions AND pictures - I have always wanted to try canning. We are moving but once we are settled into our new home, I want to try this new project. Where can you get a canning pot - I have never seen at normal stores. Where can you find the jars and lids? I used to see these in the grocery store but don't anymore.

Do you know where there is information on canning veggies?