07 Jun Eating Seasonally: Strawberry Fields Forever
In early June, strawberries are easy to find and their taste is unsurpassed. Preserve the seasonal harvest with this strawberry jam recipe.
To help celebrate eating seasonally, we will share stories and recipes about seasonal produce all summer long. These are items we may not sell, but can be found pretty easily at your local farmer’s market. This week it is all about strawberries, reusing a post from 2014 from Claire’s personal blog.
Note: Danny has continued to hone his skill on the guitar, most recently playing the prelude at Claire’s sister’s wedding last weekend!
Last summer my little brother, Danny, got a guitar for his high school graduation.
He had never played, but has an amazing ear for music. He can can hear a song and start strumming around until he has the notes. Give him an afternoon and he will have the gist of the song without any sheet music.
He can rock out to all the college favorites like “Wonderwall” (… he adds, “The girls love it!” Duh. Tell me something I don’t know. I was one of those freshman girls *not too* long ago.) and “Wagon Wheel.”
He is also pretty good at Mumford and Sons.
But, some of his favorites to play are older bands like Bob Dylan and The Beatles.
This summer he is living with Adam and I and brought his guitar along. So, we get the benefit and enjoyment of our own personal guitarist while relaxing in the evening after work.
I have learned to love having Danny softly playing “Black Bird” or my favorite, “Here Comes the Sun” in the background while I am in the kitchen. Sure beats the arguments on Real Housewives…
There is something so much sweeter about these great songs when they are from a single acoustic guitar.
And, speaking of sweet… Have you seen the strawberries that are coming out of my garden?!
Oh. My. Gosh.
They are seriously amazing.
We planted a bed of strawberries last summer and knew we couldn’t expect much the first year. And I thought there was a chance the second year might be kind of light too.
I was wrong.
We have so many, huge, juicy strawberries.
So, while Danny was jammin’ out in the guitar, I got to jamming in the kitchen.
Literally.
Strawberry Jam is a great way to use a lot of strawberries and canning the jam allows us to enjoy our spectacular strawberries all year long.
- 3 Quarts Fresh Strawberries, hulled
- 1 1¾ ounce package of regular powdered fruit pectin
- ½ teaspoon of butter
- 7 cups sugar
- Instructions:
- Crush Berries in a medium pot, one cup at at time until you have 5 cups of crushed berries.
- Stir in pectin and butter.
- Heat on high stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.
- Add sugar.
- Return to boil and boil for one minute while constantly stirring.
- Remove from heat and skim off foam.
- To Process:
- Ladle into hot and sterilized half-pint jars, leaving ¼ inch head space.
- Wipe the jars rims and add lids.
- Process in boiling water bath for five minutes. (Start time when water bath returns to boil.)
- Remove jars and set on cooling rack until cool and jars have sealed.
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