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| Rows and rows of strawberries! |
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| This is what thirty three and one half pounds looks like! |
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| Our friends joined us! Here's Abigail's BFF! |
When we got home, we couldn't wait to make jam! Only problem? We didn't know HOW to make jam, nor did we have any canning supplies! J had taken a class on canning, so he knew the basics, but I knew nothing.
Step 1: Look up recipe for jam.
Step 2: BALK at the amount of sugar in jam! 8 cups of strawberries and 6 cups of sugar? No thank you!
Step 3: REJOICE when I find a low sugar recipe!
Step 4: Groan when I realize I need a special kind of pectin.
Step 5: Rejoice again when I find out our natural food store has it!
Step 6: Put Abigail and J down for a nap :) and head to the store for canning supplies and pectin.
Step 7: Moan and groan at the price of fancy pectin and the calcium it requires. So much for jam that costs pennies on the dollar. This will end up costing $2.50 a jar. (However next year we'll only have to buy new lids, so it will cost $1.50 which is half of what I normally pay for no-sugar jam.)
Step 8: Wash my heart out! Put J to work washing, too!
Step 10: Blend, baby, blend!
Step 11: Bring berries to a boil, add calcium, pectin, and sugar.
Step 13: Finish washing strawberries and put in freezer. (hmmm...time for an ice cream break? No!)
Step 15: Feel the wind disappear from your sails when you realize you've made 16 jars of jam INCORRECTLY. Remember that special pectin I bought? Remember that you're supposed to put it IN the jam? While cleaning, I realized I didn't add pectin to ANY of the 16 cans. I felt like a total failure. To add insult to injury, I ran to google and searched "making jam" "forgot pectin" and have one entry of a woman who forgot to BUY pectin come up. UGH!!!! I'm the only person in the universe who forgot to add the pectin! Google said so!!! Call Mom to cry. Mom says, "Just start over! Open the jars, wash them, go buy new lids, and start over!" Hmmm...sounds promising.
Step 16: Go wake up J who fell asleep quieting Abigail. Bashfully admit mistake. Beg him to head to the store and buy new lids. (He does! My hero!)
Step 17: Make jam this time- WITH the pectin!
Step 18: Add labels and GRIN! I made jam!!!!
28 comments:
LOVE THIS!!! I am totally making jam this year!!! LOVE IT!
You are so funny about the pectin. I would have done that too. :)
So how many jars did you make? And how long will it take to go through them all? I feel like that would last us a couple years!
Oh my gosh!! Jealous!! Not only of the skills and abilities that I lack, but I really want to eat those strawberries!! AHHH!
Love it! You look adorable in your kitchen. Nice work mama!
So funny!
Your family is beautiful!
I don't think we even go through a jar of jam a year. My grandmas always gives us homemade jam every year and it is so yummy. I could never eat store bought stuff.
Love the heart on the label.. where did you guys go? Wish we were there to go with you (I think we'll be there in a few weeks to taste some though)!
SO jealous! It'll be months before we can pick strawberries here! Love that you worked so hard on that jam! I never would have had the stamina!
I have to go pick strawberries! I like how the pictures started out in day and ended in night!
Must make jam! Must make jam!
I have to find a place to pick strawberries, we have a blueberry place....
It looks fairly easy, time consuming but easy...
So you didn't have to add sugar just the pectin?
So how many jars of jam did 33 pounds make? My DH loves PB&J and I want to make jam now! :0
I can't wait until it stawberry season in MN. I totally want to try this low-sugar recipe!!
You tell such a great story!! I can't wait to do the same this year... I'll make sure to re-read this post first though!!
Love it! I want a jar :)
And JP has the same carseat as Abigail!
I am entirely too impressed!! And I am hoping I may be given a jar as a meeting gift when we meet up in a month or so, haha! Adorable pics - looks like Abigail really enjoyed herself :)
This is SOOO cool! I have wanted to do this for years. You are proof that you can TRANSITION from a "non-jam" girl, into a "jam" girl. Hurrah! (I thought you had to have a grandmother who taught you this stuff from birth.)
While this is all fresh in your mind, you've got to check out "Little Women" from the library. Read the chapter where Meg makes jam for the first time. Hilarious!
My funniest strawberry picking story was 2 years ago. I carefully taught my 6 and 4 year old how to pick out "good" strawberries from the field. "This one is good, Mom" Alex called out--"And this one, and this one."
"Wow, Alex" you are having much better luck than me or Hannah!" I said without turning around. 15 minutes later I discover that my son is harvesting the berries from MY BASKET--no wonder it was so easy for him to find unblemished strawberries for our pies!
Julie- we don't each jam either- or at least we didn't. I didn't' buy it b/c of the incredible amount of SUGAR in it! But two weeks ago I bought Polarners all fruit and we both loved that. Now we've already gone through half a jar of the new stuff that we made two days ago! I think we could be in love. :)
So we ended up making 24 8 ounce jars and 5 12 ounce jars. They're good for 3 weeks once open, so this should be plenty 'til next season with more for gifts. (Yes, Allie!!! Anything for you!)
Sew- you use SOME sugar, but can use honey (or maple syrup or agave?) instead. I used a cup and a half per batch (8 8oz jars) which ends up being 1/4 cup per jar, or 2 grams of sugar and 12 calories per serving. (compared to 50 calories and 14 grams of sugar per serving of the regular stuff)
I make my own bread, and use natural peanut butter (sugar free), so now I feel really good about a PB&J sandwich!
:) Beth!!!
I NEED TO DO THIS!!!!!
Crap that is me SEW still signed is a barbie....
Wow...where do you live that you have strawberries ripe in April?! We have to wait until June here.
We love making jam but I prefer the full-sugar recipes because they just set better than the low-sugar variety--and we only use it sparingly on toast and sandwiches.
Canning is one of my favorite past times--in fact I can pretty much everything throughout the growing season. My favorite canned item is unsweetened, homemade applesauce!
A perfect family day. Love it. Thanks for letting us delight in your joy.
How cool! I don't have the time or patience to try that myself, but it looks amazing!
Looks delicious. Can I come over? You ARE a rock star and so is J if I do say so myself - a canning class? AND buying new lids? Geez, I think you picked some winners (hubs and strawberries)!
Sew, I was wondering why Barbie was commenting when she was supposed to be recovering! Hahaha!
Thank you Lauren! I love the whole journey you spelled out. You can't know how grateful I am to know someone is like me and would both zealously make tons of jam in one day [not that I have yet] and forget something so painfully needed in the recipe. Really, I would have done the same thing! Good thing we weren't making that jam together. It would have really been a disaster. ;) You've inspired me! Very cool!
Quick thought on peanut butter. To avoid the mold concerns, PB made from valencia peanuts is best. You could also use a different nut butter. We eat lots of raw almond butter. Just a little food for thought.
Char, hmmm....mold concerns? Do I have mold concerns? Should I have mold concerns? :) I just bought the Smuckers Natural. Isn't that okay?
At the risk of completely boring everyone, I'll be brief. Peanuts are susceptible to the mold aflatoxin because of how and where they are grown. Aflatoxin has been linked to liver cancer. (Okay, I'm not sure in what doses, but...) Valencia & Spanish peanuts supposedly have the lowest levels of alfatoxins. If you have one near you, Trader Joes carries PB from valencia peanuts.
You guys are such a beautiful family. Love the jam story—makes me feel better about all my crazy mistakes! Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
Geez, you are ridiculously industrious. I would love to be such an ambitious homemaker!
Awesome Lauren! Love it!
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