Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Strawberry Jam

Well after our adventure picking strawberries we're trying to make strawberry jam. Here's a strawberry jam recipe.

We ended up following the directions on the pectin box we picked up at the grocery store. Which was fairly similar except there was no boiling of the jar after filling it.

However things got interesting as we got near bottling. Those lids we picked up? Yeah too big. It's 9:50 and the grocery store closes in 10 minutes. Zip off we go to try and get smaller ones. I'm looking at the selection and realize that the big lids we bought are the only size they carry. Oh well it looks like I can buy some jars to fit those lids. They're 1 litre but what the heck. The alternatives are 1.5 litre jars, that's a lot of jam, and some tiny tubby jars, maybe 200ml that are pricey.

I don't want to throw away all of those strawberries. Or eat them tonight. So for $7.50 I'll pickup a dozen 1 litre jars. We can start bottling everything under the sun I figure. After waiting for a round man to empty his cart at the grocery store I discover my jars are actually $12. After all that time. Screw it I get them anyway.

I get home to see that the Jam has been put in our small lidless containers. And has now set. I was just about ready to drop kick the dam box of bottles out the door. Then Mama reminds me that we'll just have to do the cold method. That means the jars have to stay in the freezer. We'll still have the 6 months to use them. It'll just be freezer life instead of shelf life.

Current status: I hate bottling jam! I love Jam! The dichotomy pains me.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL!!! Can we get some of that jam you are drop kicking out the door?

PB said...

Ohh there's interest. Maybe I should charge $10.

Saje said...

if you need less expensive jars, just to have around the house for the next jam emergency http://www.usedottawa.com/classified-ad/3608283&category=miscellaneous-for-sale

GL
Saje

Anonymous said...

You can reheat the jam and put it in the new jars. Just bring it back to a boil and pour it in.
You can also seal with parafin wax on the top of the jars too