Jammin' in the Kitchen

It's been a lot of years since my spouse and I made strawberry jam.  We aren't big jelly/jam eaters.  Years ago, when we lived in rural Arkansas and had access to wild strawberries, elderberries, sumac, and blackberries (and my red and black raspberry plants), and nearby peach orchards, we used the bounty of Nature to make homemade jams, jellies and marmalade.

But that was many years ago.

We still enjoy going to U-Pick places for blueberries and raspberries.  Yesterday, a U-Pick farm in the area around our home near Johnson City, New York announced that today was going to be its last day for strawberry picking.  At the same time, they were picking raspberries.  Blueberries were still a week away, otherwise we would have had a fruit trifecta.

The strawberry plants still had many ripe berries for the picking.  We picked about 6 pounds in short order.  As usual, we got carried away and picked more than we needed. (But it's so much fun, dear readers!) 

I'm not the biggest fan of frozen berries, and my spouse is not a fan of fruit pie or quick bread (!) so I knew we needed to do something fast with these berries.  They were almost too ripe.  I can hear all my readers screaming "STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE!" but I am on Weight Watchers.

Then, we went to the raspberry bushes.  There, the pickings were not as easy, between the brambles, wild thistles all over the area, and a shortage of ripe berries.  So we ended up with fewer raspberries than we wanted.

But, all those strawberries!  Those wonderful, soft strawberries, warm from the sun, bursting with juice.  Pleading with me to be eaten.  How could I resist?

A couple of days ago, I had seen this almost sugar free recipe for strawberry jam online.  It sounded good-only two tablespoons of sugar for five half pints of jam.  And, just my luck, our local supermarket had this special Ball pectin for no or low sugar jams.  Alas, it was a cooked jam, but you can't have everything.

So, while my spouse dug out long unused half pint jars, washed them in soapy water, got lids out (we still can, just not much, so we had the needed supplies) and got the canning kettle to boiling, I also set to work.

First, I took two pounds of the strawberries we picked earlier today, hulled, and washed them.

I crushed them with a potato masher.  To this, I added 1/2 cup water and two tablespoons sugar.  Finally, I added two tablespoons of this type pectin that hadn't even existed the last time I made jam.

Bringing to a hard boil, I boiled for one minute.  Then, my spouse ladled the jam into the waiting, sterilized jars. They went into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  (Most people would skim the foam off the top, but we were too lazy.)

Out it comes.

The finished result.

Now, doesn't this make you long for some vanilla low fat yogurt with a strawberry topping?  No?  What would you have done?

Comment below!