Strawberry Jam

This morning, after a surprise run with a friend who had moved to Louisville, I stopped at the grocery for jam-making supplies. I already had some strawberries from our garden.

So I needed sugar and Sure Jell and extra lids.

Lucky for me, my mother has left all of her cool canning gadgets at my house.

Earl helped me crush the strawberries. We need 5 cups of them. 

I cook them until the boil, then add 7 cups of sugar. Some people might want less sugar, but I just go full out and follow the recipe. 

Once that comes to a boil, it boils for 1 minute then into the sterilized jars. I put the jars in the dishwasher and run through the cycle. I ust leave it closed until I'm ready for them. Then I use the funnel to fill the jars. 

Take the lids from the boiling water and put them on the jars. Add the rings and put the filled jars in canning pot filled with boiling water. They boil for 10 minutes then I take them out with another cool canning implement and listen for the lids to seal with a pop.

I probably made enough jam to last through the summer since all three kids are home. 

Our strawberry patch is in front of the garage, so we will probably lose the plants once the workers come to repair the garage. You can read about the garage issue in the other post. 

Hope you all had a productive or peaceful Sunday. 

Strawberries and Patience

The problem with strawberries is that they take an extra year to grow. That means we plant them and let them grow a whole year before we get any berries off of them.
Each time the strawberry decides it should flower and produce a berry, we have to snap off the flower. It seems cruel to both the plant, which is trying to produce fruit, and to me, who would love to eat strawberries. The reasons for not letting it flower are vague to me, but something about establishing the plant. Planning for the future, blah, blah, blah...
But that was last year. This year, with monsoon rains throughout the spring, the strawberry plants flowered and produced tiny green berries that grew into lush red berries.
We've had strawberries for a few weeks now. Grace picks a handful for a smoothie in the morning. I stop and gather a bowl to have after my run. We've sliced them and put them atop the lettuce that grew in another garden bed. We probably need to fix some strawberry daquiris too.
If you haven't ever eaten a strawberry straight from the plant, full of warmth from the sun, you should.
I think this picture will serve as a testimony to their tastiness straight from the plant. Unlike adults who might ask if the strawberries have been rinsed, Caroline had no problem picking berry after berry and wolfing them down. She even ate the green topper when Grace didn't pull it off fast enough.
What are you growing this year?