Strawberry Jam

I got to make some strawberry jam the other day! It was a lot of  fun and wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. So to begin with, I suggest that you have one of those really big canning kettles. It needs to be able to hold your jars, plus water over the lids of them. And a basket so you don't scorch yourself when taking them out. 

 Start the water in the big kettle boiling, also a smaller pan with the lids in it (the flat pieces, not the rings).

So first you want to start by washing all your jars. You probably got them out of a box and so they won't be too clean. Wash them so no bacteria gets in them and makes your food go bad. also wash the rings and jars. Put the jars in the big pot so you can sterilize them more.

So measure out 4 cups of combined pineapple, dates and strawberries. I did about 4-6 dates, 1/2 c. pineapple and the rest was strawberries. Mash them down into the measuring device.

I used Pomona's Universal Pectin. It is the kind of pectin that you don't have to use that much sugar with, which was good because I wasn't using any of the traditional kind of sugar. It worked quite well the previous times. We haven't opened up this season's jam, but hopefully it worked. Mix the calcium water mix with some water as directed. Put the fruit in a sauce pan and mash. The larger the pot, the more surface area. Just saying. cooks faster. Mash it with a potato masher, so there are big and small chunks. You don't want it all same. It makes it more interesting and the way it's suppose to be made... haha.

Okay, so you bring the strawberry mix to a boil, and then add the pectin, stirring so it doesn't clump, because that would be nasty. Cook for 2 more minutes and take it off the heat. If you did it like I told you, the water should be boiling (depending on your altitude) and then you want to take the jars out of the water.

If you're wondering why we are washing the jars, then boiling and all that fun stuff, just go google "Botulism". Fill the jars to the fill marker on the side. Place one of the lids on it and then put the lid on. Put it back in the boiling pot for 10 more minutes. Take out and let sit. Do not touch the jars. I like to leave them overnight. Moving or disturbing them can undo or not make the jar seal, which can be bad if you googled about botulism.

I hope that you try canning this summer! It's a lot of fun and you can have great stuff to eat in the winter. I'm going to try and make some blueberry jam this summer because we pick a lot of blueberries at an orchard that isn't too far away. I'll have to take pictures when we do. It's usually around July 4.
Have a great "canning" experience!