so, I came home for the weekend and within 30 minutes of being home my mom squealed, "we're making jam!" perfect opportunity to make it with her guidance because I've been itching to do it. she's a seasoned pro so with help from her we had homemade strawberry jam with fresh ontario strawberries in an hour!
for the sake of our sanity and ease we made freezer jam - it's less of a hassle and involves no boiling of fruit and jars and all the craziness that comes with it. so, with that we chopped off the stems of these ontario beauties!
honestly, look at them. they smelled incredible. I cannot wait to feast into this jam on everything you can imagine - toast, crackers, bread, cereal, chocolate bars (ahah okay maybe not the latter two!). so, you need four cups of mashed up strawberries. my mom and I had a system, she cut the stems, I did the mashing!
after that you mix it in with certo and 1/4 cup of sugar and let it sit for 30 minutes - stirring occasionally!
oh my gosh I'm drooling at the thought of it all already.
there is nothing like ontario strawberries. nothing will ever compare. and here's my dog jake for good measure. he was quite amused by the jamming that was going on in the kitchen!
after letting it sit for 30 minutes you add the remaining sugar (3 cups) and stir it for three minutes ensuring that everything is mixed well. it will be thicker in consistency by now and ready to scoop into your jars. make sure your jars are well sterilized because the preservative will be sitting in there for an extended period of time.
the recipe we used was supposed to make six cups but we think it made a little more. oh well, more for me so I wont complain! :) put the lids on the jars being sure not to touch the bottom because you don't want anything from your hands to contaminate the lids then screw it on and voila!
title it and date it and there you have it, fresh ontario strawberry jam! this is freezer jam so you let it sit for 24 hours to set then you store it in the freezer until you're ready to use it! I'm planning to steal as much of it as humanly possible and take it back to ottawa with me. once august rolls around I think I'll make peach freezer jam as a treat. I love peaches but not a fan of just eating them plain so I figured I'll make jam and it eat on everything I can possibly think of.
as for now, I'm going back to sitting on the back deck and soaking up my muskoka evening! I think the next thing on my baking list is watermelon cookies...keep your eyes peeled for what shows up next!
happy making! :)
No comments
Post a Comment