Finally I was able to get some fresh strawberries! Every year I seem to miss them, as they are ripe right in the middle of our spring beef processing and deliveries and I'm usually too busy to get any picked. Strawberry jam is my all-time favorite and each year I'm always wishing I had some put away.
We went last Tuesday and picked about 5 gallons - I'd love to have 5-10 gallons more, but this is probably all we'll have time for this year.
I divided them into 3 groups: a group for making jam, a group to slice and put in the freezer for pies or ice cream topping and a group that was ready for immediate eating! The girls all helped me cap and slice them, which made quick work of everything!
I'll post when I get the jam made. I'm waiting for a new pectin to arrive that I'm going to try. It's called Pomona Universal Pectin and it uses LOTS less sugar than regular pectin. It even has recipes for using no sugar at all.
I purchased it from The Canning Pantry. It seems a bit costly, but if you look at how long this pectin will last and how much less sugar you'll be using, it is definitely worth it! A 1 ounce box is enough to make 2-4 recipes using 4-6 cups of fruit per recipe. I'll be sure to blog the jam making so you can see how well it works out.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Strawberries!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
You have some great little helpers! I like strawberry jam too!
I love strawberry season. It marks the official start to summer for us. We picked 30lbs. this year and made just about all of it into freezer preserves. My boys could eat it by the spoonfuls!
Good luck with the new pectin. I can't wait to see how it works. :-)
Amy
Most of my recipes call for "one pouch of pectin." I wonder if I could figure out how much that would measure out to if I got my pectin from a big box.
Barb J: The pomona pectin has recipes and conversion that come with it, so you should be able to adapt it to your current recipes.
Post a Comment