Hello! It’s been too long- things have been busy here getting planting season going! In the past month, we have: started/planted some raised beds by the house, began planting down on the river, received baby chicks via mail, and made several batches of homemade strawberry jam!
Now, we are brand new in the jam making, but I have a feeling this will be a new yearly tradition! You see, we go through SO much strawberry jam- and homemade is just that much better! I must clarify: we DID NOT grow the strawberries, that is one thing we have never planted. We go to a local farm that has a large pick-your-own patch this time of year.
So at the beginning of May we did a large batch of freezer jam. Super simple: just follow the instructions on the back of the pectin box, fill jars, and freeze- seriously that simple!
A couple nights ago, Blake and I stayed up pretty late making more jam and this time around canning them for the pantry. Now, this was our first time doing this- new to the electric canner, and cooking jam. But it was so easy and fun to do together! If you’re like me, and it sounds intimidating, but want to try, I followed the instructions of Mary from the blog ‘Mary’s Nest’. https://marysnest.com/low-sugar-strawberry-jam-with-water-bath-canning/.
Mary broke down the instructions step by step. Step 1: wash and cut stems off strawberries
Step 2: mash (with potato masher) and add mashed strawberries along with juice (5cups worth) to the pot. Add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice- fresh or bottled, and whisk in packet of low sugar pectin. Once, it comes to a rolling boil, add 3 cups of sugar, stir and boil for another minute.
Last: fill sterilized mason jars (I used 8oz) I made two batches, with 10lbs of strawberry totaling up to 15 jars of jam. You’ll want to wipe the rim of the jar with a clean paper towel and a touch of white vinegar before closing the lids up. Next, just place in your canner, to seal them up! Mary does a much better job breaking it all down- she has an extensive video.
But like I said, we had fun doing it, and now between the freezer jam and the ones in the pantry we are all set for quite some time on strawberry jam. Next month, we plan to go peach picking in the mountains and we will be making peach jam!
Thanks for reading! 🍓
Goat Island Acres 