Strawberry Jam Day

With all those fabulous strawberries we picked the other day, we needed a way to use a lot of them... fast. Strawberry jam anyone? :)

My dear friend Amanda and her son, Noah (Jimmy's best friend, so cute!) came over this morning and we made lots and lots of fresh strawberry jam. Neither of us have ever done it before, but it turned out to be fairly simple-- time intense, but simple. I found a recipe online that doesn't call for pectin-- just the berries, sugar (LOTS of sugar), and lemon juice!

Strawberry Jam

• 2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled
• 4 cups white sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

In a wide bowl, crush strawberries in batches until you have 4 cups of mashed berry. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F (105 degrees C). Transfer to hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headspace, and seal. Process any unsealed jars in a water bath. If the jam is going to be eaten right away, don't bother with processing, and just refrigerate.

Footnotes: To test for jelling

• Place three plates in a freezer... after about 10 minutes of boiling place a tsp of the liquid of the jam onto the cold plate. Return to freezer for a minute. Run your finger through the jam on the plate... if it doesn't try to run back together (if you can make a line through it with your finger) it's ready to be canned!

Finishing up-- canning jars boiling on the back, the last of the jam in the big blue pot.

Apparently, you have to turn the jars over for about an hour so they'll "seal" and keep for a long period of time. Who knew! :)

I made some bread machine bread to go with the jam-- just a simple white bread loaf. I just had a slice with the jam. Fabulous. Simply fabulous. I'm afraid to go back into my kitchen for fear of eating the whole thing of jam. And the bread. ;)

Jimmy and Noah playing!

Jimmy looks so old here! He'll be 2 this Sunday on Mother's Day :) This "Lightning McQueen" is his absolute favorite-est toy. He plays with this ALL day :)


Coming up tomorrow: Weekender! Month-Long Mini Album - Part 2.
Can't wait to show you what's going on with mine.
Checklist for tomorrow:
1. Completed ABC list pertaining to your subject.
2. Momentos and such pertaining to your subject gathered.