The ingredients and steps for making jam are deceptively simple: Take fruit, lemon juice, and sugar. Mix them together and cook them until they thicken. Put the mixture in sterilized jars. Boil the jars for 10 minutes to process away any bacteria that might be lingering and to seal the jars. Done!
So easy, right? Morale was high as we embarked on our mission. We gathered the supplies, we washed and hulled all the berries, we whistled while we worked.
We boiled mason jars for five minutes in a large stock pot, and we poured boiling water over the lids in a large bowl. We mashed berries and mixed in the sugar and squeezed in lemon juice. We brought it to a boil and sighed with contentment as the whole house filled with the smell of warm strawberries.
And then the thermometer told us that the mixture had reached the magic number of 220 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that jam was happening!
Chaos ensued. We started arguing over how to best get the jam into the jars {funny, we hadn’t thought this through ahead of time} and realized that the only funnel we had on hand was a plastic one that was not sterilized and might melt if we tried to sterilize it in the boiling water. Oops.
Meanwhile, the sterilized jars were out of their boil-bath and cooling down too quickly. And then there was the question of how to get all the hot jam-filled jars into the processing bath {there was only room for four at a time} before they all cooled down too much.
It was kind of the opposite of the lovely and romantic morning we had. My brain was exploding and my nerves a little wrecked after a very long berry-devoted day, but it all worked out and we’re now the proud owners of way too much strawberry and strawberry-rhubarb jam.
…Which we promptly ate atop banana pancakes this morning.
Along side thick-cut bacon from our friend Blaise’s farm down the road.
Ok, that was definitely worth the work.
We used this recipe for the strawberry jam, but we cut the sugar in half and then eventually cut it down to just one cup for the last batch because we thought that it was just way too sweet with all four cups of sugar in there.
For the strawberry-rhubarb jam, we used this recipe as a guideline but again we cut the sugar by half and were very happy with the taste/sweetness.
We love the texture of both jams…plenty of chunks of fruit but smooth and very spreadable, too.
Now that we’ve been initiated into the canning world, we’re excited to try making blueberry, cherry, and pear jam as well. I want to figure out how to make “preserves” or “compotes” too…I’d love to be able to heat up a jar and pour it over ice-cream in the middle of winter when you’re really craving fruit.
[...] To be continued… Tags: eating local, family farms, fruit trees, how to make jam, local farms, locally grown food, making jam, preserving fruit [...]
I’ve been so excited to hear your jam making adventures! My kids and I made jam for the first time last month and, though it tastes really yummy, it is really just too much sugar. Also, I was afraid of the canning business so made freezer jam. I really need to find some like-minded local friends and maybe have a canning party…it’s blueberry season here so maybe I’ll give it another go with the recipe you linked to and give the canning a go…the freezer jam tastes nice but the sugar makes it very chrystally which I’m not keen on. My husband and kids have eaten our jam without complaint but I just know it can be better. Really enjoyed your post!
Ps- forgot to mention that I too didn’t think about getting the jam INTO the jars….I used a much too big plastic ladle with jam running onto the sides of the jars, onto the counter, etc. I’ve since seen rubber funnels specific for jam making! Where’s a great-grandma when you need her?!
Patricia, I hear ya lady! A canning party would be the way to go…there’s a lot going on for one or two people to stay on top of without any slip ups. We definitely felt burnt out after only one batch (four jars!) and it would have been ideal to be able to take a seat and drink something while friends took over for a while. I could have endured much longer if we had been able to do it in shifts like that. Freezer jam is wonderful, but we are short on freezer space and have plenty of pantry space, so canning was clearly the way to go for us. I have a couple more pounds of strawberries left that I just cleaned, hulled, and froze whole, for smoothies and stuff. Good luck with your blueberries! Our next attempt will be cherry preserves…they’re *almost* ready to be picked off the trees in our yard!! Probably just enough for a couple batches. We made a tiny test-batch today and it was delicious. I actually prefer it over the strawberry because they’re tart cherries and I love tart food.
Oh yeah, and I had posted on Facebook what I was up to while we were in the middle of the canning, and my friend Alison (of High Five Produce) down the road wrote that she was doing the exact same thing at the moment….so silly! We should have been doing it together!! Next time, Alison!
I’m hoping to host a canning party later this summer, so it’s good to learn from your experience! I suppose you might have been able to line your funnel with aluminum foil if it was the wide-mouth variety. Another handy tool might be a jar-lifter.
Congrats on your success!
Looks like a lot of work but definitely worth it. A canning party sounds like so much fun!