Strawberry Fields Forever . . .

A little background on me and fresh strawberries--whenever I go picking, I always pick WAY more than I think that I have. Probably due to my complete ineptitude at any type of spatial reasoning. Probably also partially due to the fact that fresh strawberries smell so amazingly good. No wonder the Beatles wrote a song about strawberry fields (although who knows how much of that song reflects actual reality).

Anyhoo, my little helper Jack and I went strawberry picking Monday. We proceeded in a very short amount of time to pick 15 POUNDS of strawberries! Yikes! But they looked great and smelled great and according to my little helper, tasted great too.

What to do with that many strawberries you ask?

Well, this is what my box looked like AFTER 3 batches of freezer jam.

So, I continued on to make 1 batch of cooked strawberry jam (you know, the kind you seal so it can keep outside of the freezer or fridge). I've never been excited about the cooked jams because the freezer jam tastes so fresh and yummy. But honestly we're at a premium for freezer space right at the moment. And the cooked jam actually tastes pretty darn good.
And here's the lovely compost bucket as testament to my efforts. P.S.--If you don't have a nice sharp little paring knife, you need one. It's one of my handiest kitchen tools.
The freezer jam sitting its required 24 hours on the kitchen sink.
Now, some information on jam-making that I discovered. I have used several different kinds of
"pectin", the stuff you use to set the jam. I don't like switching around on what I use, but for some annoying reason the stores don't always have the same kinds available. So, here's a bit on what I have learned:
PECTIN--There is actually a product named simply Pectin. It works well, the only hitch is that you have to remember that you need lemon juice in addition to your fruit and sugar. I also have not been able to find Pectin for a long time. Maybe it's not available much in the Midwest and East where I've mostly lived the last 10 years. I could always find it in Utah, but haven't looked recently.
SURE-JELL--This is the product I have used most, so I like it because I'm familiar with it. You only need the Sure-Jell, fruit, and sugar. The hitch with this one is that you have to boil the powder in a little water (3/4 cup) before you add it to the jam. Honestly for me, that really hasn't been too big of a hangup. It doesn't take long.
CERTO--I have just discovered this product and like what I see so far. I sent my husband to the store for Sure-Jell and he couldn't find any. So this is what he brought home. This is made by the same company as Sure-Jell. As far as I can tell, you end up with a similar result using either product. This product is a liquid, unlike the other two above. It actually comes in packages of 2, so it's a little more expensive, but also makes double the jam. This one, like the Pectin, requires lemon juice for many of its freezer jam recipes, but not for cooked jam. I liked the convenience of just dumping this in, no dissolving required. I used it only for my cooked jam and the jam set up perfectly so I was pleased with the product.
BALL BRAND--I am not certain if there's a product name, but there was a Ball brand pectin that I used last year. I was very unhappy with the resulting jam. If I remember correctly, you do add a little less sugar to the jam, and maybe that's a plus for some people, but the resulting product was poor. The taste was mushy, almost stewy, and quickly becomes discolored in the fridge. This is very unappealing, especially compared to other freezer jams that I can keep in the fridge for weeks with little or no change in the products appearance or taste (maybe just a little change in the consistency, it sometimes gets a little runny from being in and out of the fridge). I (guiltily) actually just got rid of quite a bit of the stuff I made last year with this product that was still in my freezer because we just didn't like it. I don't recommend this!
So, with the remnants (quite a bit!) of the berries, we made strawberry ice cream and strawberry shortcake. YUM! This post is already too long, so next time I'll share my favorite homemade Angel Food Cake recipe that we love for strawberry shortcake.
"Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to strawberry fields . . ." (The Beatles)