Strawberry Jam

On Friday, we headed out to the nearest orchard/farm to pick strawberries.  We came home with one flat of strawberries - 11 pounds worth!  I wanted to try my hand at making jam.  It was an adventure!  But, it turned out pretty well.

Since we don't have a deep freeze, I didn't want to make freezer jam, because I didn't think jam would hold up well in our fridge-top, frostless freezer (the freeze-thaw cycle that keeps it frost-free isn't good for long term storage) so we had to water-bath can.

I had a pot I thought big enough to use, but I didn't have a rack that would fit in the bottom of it, to keep the jars off the pan while processing.  We ended up using two aluminum foil snakes.  It wasn't perfect, and it was really irritating to deal with (aluminum foil floats!) but it got the job done.  I think if we try to do this again (and I'd like to can more, it was fun!) we'll need to invest in a large canner, with jar rack.

I followed the directions that came with the pectin and it turned out really, really, well!  Oh, and I'm glad I used by big 6qt Le Crueset pot to cook the jam - when that stuff boils, it really expands!

Grand total: 10 1/2 pint jars of jam, two bags of frozen, whole berries (a little more than a gallon, I'd say, two whole sheet pans of berries), one large bowl for topping cake and ice cream, plus one box for eating.  That was a lot of strawberries!

I am ridiculously proud of how well it worked out, though.  This strawberry jam is delicious!  Fresh, fruity, sweet, and so very strawberry-y!