Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Jammin'

Those fabulous strawberries were picked, I confess, near Winters, California, not in Colorado. Sorry to disappoint! But it gives you something to look forward to, as our own strawberry season is nigh. You might find a farm to visit at pickyourown.org.
My original intention was to mash the berries coarsely, but lacking a good mashing tool, I resorted to a mini food processor. Four heaping pint baskets will give you roughly the four cups of mashed berries you need to make freezer jam.
The recipe is on the back of the packet of freezer-jam pectin. You mix the packet with 1 1/2 cups of sugar, add the berries and stir for three minutes. Put the jam in containers, leaving some room for expansion, and let it set up for half an hour or so. Then keep it in the fridge for three weeks or in the freezer for up to a year.
It's exceedingly tasty! With berries this sweet, I could have cut the sugar to a cup. The mixture didn't seem to jell a whole lot, but that's not really a problem. The problem is not grabbing a spoon and eating the entire container at once.

It's good with ice cream or shortcake, too. Natch.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for the yummy berries! We eat 'em fast here - too fast for jam, but my mom gave me half the jam that she made and it is really good. Yes. Eating-out-of-the-container-with-a-spoon good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I used to make jam, but the past few years, we've eaten all we could pick. I eat strawberry shortcake until it's coming out my ears during strawberry season.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I did hope that the strawberries were in Colorado, but I looked for the you pick farm, and they don't open until June. Will just have to wait until then. Yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. GORGEOUS!! You're all set for lovely breakfasts, I see.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks so yummy!..we'll have to wait until December here :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Glad you liked 'em, Molly. I ended up devouring all mine with a spoon.

    Been picking, db?

    Betts, strawberry shortcake is a most excellent use!

    Sorry to get your hopes up, Glenda. My backyard strawberries are ripening now, so pick-your-own can't be far off.

    Pink, or dessert ;-)

    Gina, you'll have upside-down strawberry shortcake then, yes?

    ReplyDelete