Expanding my domestic abilities, today I decided to take my first baby steps into learning to can by making freezer jam. My dear friend Jo gave me a huge bag of strawberries (I didn't even have to pick them or buy them -- how lucky is that?) and I bought plastic jars and fruit pectin, so today I decided to dive in!
After washing and trimming the berries came the squashing -- lots of fun! I used my Pampered Chef Mix n Chop to do the initial chopping, which worked great. It's supposed to be for ground beef, but it worked beautifully to chop up strawberries for jam. After they were chopped up, I finished them up with a potato masher, making 4 cups of squashed strawberries.
After that I cooked up the pectin, sugar and water according to the directions, mixing in the strawberries after the mixture had boiled.
Immediately after that I spooned the hot jam into the plastic jars I bought and -- VOILA!
They're supposed to sit out a room temperature for 24 hours and then I can freeze the ones we won't be using right away. I was very intimidated by the idea of canning, but this way was very simple. I know that I will do it again in a few weeks as my raspberries come in. As I gain confidence I might have to give traditional canning a try with our apple treat. Who knows?
Comments