Friday, April 20, 2012

In a Jam




This Spring Break week started out with the whole family going strawberry picking. I ended up with about 12 cups worth of strawberries and I knew just what I wanted to do with them.

I have only made jam once before and it was under the strict supervision of a good friend of mine who was a pro at canning. Even though that lesson was several years ago I still had some confidence that I could do it.

Things were going really well, I was boiling my jars and lids, washed, cut and smashed my strawberries. Then that's when things got a little hairy. Apparently the pot that I was cooking the strawberries in wasn't big enough for the 10 cups of sugar that was added. That is what you see all over the side of the pot. Even though I think it made for a cool picture, that sticky strawberry substance was ALL OVER my stove top.

I cut the heat and just went with what I had to fill my jars. In the taste category the jam is re-heally good! But in the texture department it's a little runny. I know it could have cooked a little longer so the fruit pectin could have had a better chance of jelly-ing it up.

What can I say, I'm Mormon, not Amish...

But it worked out for us for the better this morning. I made pancakes and we used some of the jelly as strawberry syrup, and then added a little whipped cream on top. I can't be disappointed by that!

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