It's just not June without fresh local strawberries. (Okay, so technically, it hasn't been June for five weeks or so. I thought I lost these pictures when my BlackBerry died in a big way. As it turns out, I had already saved them to my laptop. Look at me go, more organized than I even know.)
At any rate, it was June, the strawberries were glorious, so I got my jam on. And there's even photographic evidence!
You'll need:
6 cups crushed strawberries (I think it was about 5 of those green plastic baskets)
2 cups white sugar
Juice of 1 lemon and 2 limes (~4 T combined)
1 pkg (57 g box) pectin
6 half-pint (250 ml) Mason jars
6 snap lids and rings
Directions for cooking and canning:
Wash your Mason jars in hot soapy water. Rinse well.
Fill your canning pot halfway-ish with water and put it on to heat. Put your jars in there to get all sterilized and hygienic while you do the rest.
Wash, hull and crush strawberries, one layer at a time, until you have 6 cups worth.
Combine your strawberries your strawberries and lemon-lime juice in your cooking pot. As it heats, add the pectin and stir it in well until dissolved.
Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Add the sugar. You might want more than 2 cups; taste and add more if you wish. The recipe called for a ridiculous SEVEN! cups of sugar, but whoa.
Stirring constantly, return mixture to full rolling boil that doesn't calm down even when you stir it.
Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat. Skim off foam. My kids love the foam. For them, it's a treat in the order of licking the icing off the beaters.
Rescue your jars from the boiling water. Scoop a small amount of water into a small pot and put your snap lids in there to heat.
Quickly ladle hot jam into hot jars, using a wide mouth funnel. Leave 0.5 cm headspace.
"Bubble" each jar with a skewer or chopstick to release any trapped air. Wipe each rim with a clean damp paper towel. Place the snap lid down and screw the ring on finger tip tight.
Put the jars into your water bath canner. Make sure there is at least an inch of water above the top of your jars. Put the pot lid on and return to the boil for 10 minutes. Don't start your timer until the water is boiling.
Remove jars from the canner (or let them sit in the canner until everything calms down).
Stack artistically and try not to sprain your arm while you pat yourself on the back.
Gorgeous! I have to admit the jam is a little wee bit runny. I'm wondering if the pectin actually needed that crazy about of sugar to fully thicken. I dunno. I don't usually buy that kind but they didn't have any of the low-sugar kind in the store. Bright side is that a couple teaspoonsfull are unlikely to send anyone into a sugar coma.
