My First Batch of Jam

Ok, so I'm noticing another little pattern (didn't I just reveal a neurotic part of my personality last week?). Here's the thing: I get really excited and inspired about an idea and I want to do it all...right now. Then, when I'm in the midst of taking it all on at once and have way too much on my plate, I have a little stress breakdown and have to assess the situation. To my friends and family, this is old news. In fact, they're the ones that usually get to listen to me vent and talk through how I'm going to make it all work without going crazy. Luckily, because of my energy and enthusiasm, I always follow through. I may get a little stressed out in the process, but you'd better believe I'll finish what I started.

So, when I finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and decided to go seasonaltarian, my first instinct was to dive into it full steam ahead – start going to the farmers' market, grow my own food, make my own bread, can my own tomato sauce, and so on. But, for some reason, I really took things one step at a time. I decided to start off by really learning to grow food year 'round. Then, I bought the no-knead bread cookbook and started to master making my own bread. Last summer, when my garden was bursting with seasonal bounty, I thought about learning to can, but felt unprepared (literally lacking all the necessary canning supplies) and preoccupied with all my summer harvesting and winter garden plans. So, I ate my fresh summer vegetables and froze the rest.

Until now. I decided that this would be my year for canning. And after my "mother in law" hooked me up with all things canning for Christmas this year (a bath canner, canning rack, jar lifter, jar funnel, mason jars and lids), there was no turning back. So, on Sunday night, I completed my first "canning" project: strawberry jam. I have to say though that this doesn't really count because I made freezer jam and I have yet to process a canning project using the hot water method...but it's only a matter of time.

I decided to call this freezer jam because it is super low in sugar and since sugar is a preservative, I wanted to make sure it would keep. That being said, I got this recipe and canning advice from a Master Gardener colleague, Greg, and he didn't say anything about freezing it, so I'm sure it would be fine. Being the germophobe and hypochondriac that I am, I like to be on the safe side.

Like I said, I was thrilled to hear about Greg's strawberry jam because it has hardly any sugar. Most of the recipes I find call for almost equal parts fruit to sugar, if not more sugar. I just didn't want that, and I hit the jackpot because this jam is amazing. I still have a lot to learn. It took me twice as long as he said it would, but it was worth every minute.

Greg's Strawberry Jam

I used organic whole cane sugar, which is what I think gave the jam it's rich, Merlot-like color and flavor. I also discovered that chardonnay tastes even better with a few strawberries floating in your glass and helps the work of prepping strawberries go by in a flash!

1/2 flat deliciously ripe, organic farmers' market strawberries (about 9 generous cups)

1 cup sugar

Wash, hull, and cut the strawberries in half. Put them into a large mixing bowl with the sugar and let them sit overnight.

Strain the fruit from their juices and put the juice into a heavy stockpot on the stove. Adding the berries later will help them keep their form. Bring the liquid to a soft boil, stirring frequently. The goal is to slowly boil the sugar/strawberry juice mixture, without burning, until it starts coating the spoon (this is called "sheeting," I'm told) and reaches 220 degrees, which you monitor with a thermometer. This takes about 30 minutes.

Then*, add the fruit to the pot, bring back to a boil for about 5 more minutes and you're done.

Yields 5 (and 1/2) half-pint mason jars.

*This is where things went awry for me. When I added the strawberries to the mix, it obviously changed the temperature and I guess because of the juices that were present in the berries, the gelled nature of the mixture I had just created changed. So, I continued to boil the mixture for another 30 minutes – the amount of time it took me to get the mixture back up to 220 degrees again and start sheeting.

If it wasn't clear before I started, I am new to this whole canning business and should probably talk to Greg about what he thinks about my 30 additional minute conundrum. That second 30 minutes of boiling probably wasn't even necessary, but it just didn't seem right. The beauty of the whole thing is that the result was delicious! And I am hooked and ready to can again. I can't imagine that this recipe, the way I've presented it at least, will be helpful to you, considering the fact that I can't actually tell you how long you should boil it. But I can tell you that the experimentation was worth it. I can foresee many canning posts in the months to come!