Strawberry Jam
I started making jam many years ago. The task was daunting at first, with so many little ones running around, but, it was a wonderful family time. Everyone wanted to help do strawberries. The youngest would sit and eat while the rest of us would hull the berries. Initially I used the pectin from the store, but as I learned more about eating healthy, I came upon an alternative, Pomona’s Pectin. The pectin from the store requires that you use more sugar than you do berries, I always thought that was strange, wouldn’t you want to taste the berries rather than eating a spoonful of sugar?? Well, with the Pomona’s pectin, you can use very little sugar, honey, or all fruit. It is very versatile and easy to use. I typically use about 1 cup of sugar per 4 cups of berries, you can use as little as 3/4 cup. If you are interested in this pectin, it can usually be found in health food stores or @ www.pomonapectin.com, I order mine through a co-op.
Yesterday we picked 80-90 pounds of strawberries, which correlates to 8 large boxes. So, everyone had there own box to hull as I worked at getting the kitchen set up for canning. A few years ago, I started doing larger batches of jam, making things go faster, previously it would have taken me 2 full days to do 80 pounds of berries. It took 7 hours yesterday. I am fortunate to have lots of help, but with 10 people in the family I also have a lot of eaters! Tomorrow, we will again to visit the berry patch to get another 8 boxes, we are big strawberry jam fans, we used 95 pints last year and ran out a few months ago, so the kids tell me we need to make more this year!
They all love picking berries also. The wagon takes us out to the patch to pick and when we are done, the kids visit the small petting zoo. I know that the memories created will last forever.
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June 17 2009 10:50 am | Uncategorized
June 17th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Have you ever frozen you jam? To me that would seem easier than canning but I can’t say I’ve done either, just watched them be done.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I haven’t tried freezing jam because it is easier to come up with that much shelf space rather than freezer space.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:33 am
My children like Jam very much and so I am interested to know its recipe, Can you please it here?
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Pretty cool post. I just found your blog and wanted to say
that I have really liked browsing your posts. Anyway
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon!
June 24th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Here is the recipe, keep in mind that this recipe is specifically for the pomona’s universal pectin:
4 cups mashed fruit
1/2 - 1 cup honey or 3/4 - 2 cups sugar
2tsp pectin powder
2tsp calcium water
Add calcium water to mashed berries, stir well. Measure sugar or honey into bowl, thoroughly mix proper amount of pectin powder into the sugar or honey.
Bring fruit to a boil. Add pectin/sugar, stir vigorously 1-2 minutes while cooking to dissolve pectin. Return to boil an d remove from heat. Fill jars to 1/4 inch of top, and process for 5 minutes.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Loved your latest post, by the way.
February 5th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
I came upon your blog by chance and now I am convinced that divine Providence led me there.