As part of my fruit hoarding, I saved strawberries with the intent of making a strawberry-vanilla jam.
Now, I know it's become cliche at this point, but local, in-season berries are unbelievable. Those out-of-season monsters from California can't even compare. The local ones are smaller, sweeter, and tastier. And since they only come into season a few weeks out of the year, they are so precious. (Eating local/seasonally allows you something to look forward to, you know? I get so excited when I know strawberry season is coming.) So I hoarded two quarts.
You may have noticed that it is October, and strawberry season is generally early June. I processed the berries (rinsed, de-stemmed, sliced in quarters) and froze them until I knew I would have more time. A few weeks ago, I found the time and made some jam.
Last year was my first introduction to water-bath canning. Friends of mine were making pickles, and asked if I wanted to help. I was excited to learn from others who knew what they were doing and could answer any questions. And I learned important things like why you shouldn't let the pickling liquid cool in the jar before placing it in the canner (we were out of lids and paused the operation; I paused it at the wrong time and a jar or two broke in the water-bath).
After pickling, I decided to tackle canning on my own, specifically in the form of jam. I made blueberry jam from the 11 pounds I picked at a U-Pick farm; mixed stone-fruit jam from local peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and cherries; and a cranberry-apple jam that is perfect for gift-giving at the holidays. I was never really much of a jam-eater; I don't eat a lot of toast and only had the occasional pb&j. I don't think we even had jam in the house before I went nuts on my canner. But we ate or gave away all of it, long before fruit came back into season. I started putting jam in my homemade yogurt in the mornings--it's like fruit on the bottom, but better, and it perfectly sweetens the sour yogurt. Same thing with my oatmeal. And I started eating more pb&js.
I knew I was going to need to make more jam. And this year, strawberry was at the top of the list. (I used the recipe from
this book, which is incredible.)
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| Berries macerating in sugar--it tenderizes and releases all the amazing juice |
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| Making jam |
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| The set-up: small pot with simmering lids in back, jam pot, canning pot |
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| Some tools of the trade and jars just out of the canner |
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| My husband and I listened in silly anticipation for the "pop" when the lids sealed. We cheered and giggled with each pop. |
It turned out absolutely amazing. Canning might seem like a lot of work, but when it's the dead of winter and you are eating homemade yogurt with the most amazing summer-strawberry jam, it is absolutely worth every second.
