Homemade Strawberry Jam Time

(This one is a little long as I've included the recipe at the bottom.)
Another June is almost said and done, and that means it's homemade strawberry jam time! I used to eat homemade jam when I was younger. My mom used to make it. Being a kid, I don't think I ever really appreciated how much better it was than store bought jam. Then a little over a year ago, I think it was like April 2008, my friend Liana brought me a container of some homemade strawberry jam. It was delicious! After eating homemade jam it's really hard to go back to the Smucker's. I think we tore through that container of jam in no time! Liana mentioned that she'd be making jam again in June (2008), and I was welcome to join her in picking strawberries and coming back to her house to make jam. I took her up on the offer and last year I made my first batch of homemade strawberry jam. Liana welcomed five of us into her kitchen only to trash it with bowls, measuring cups, pots, spoons, mashers, freezer containers, pectin, strawberries, sugar, and more sugar! It was a good time had by all. I got rave reviews on my jam and I haven't had store bought jam since! Thanks Liana for inviting me to make jam and starting something for years to come!

So yesterday it was time for all of us to gather once again and make our yearly batch of jam! As I mentioned yesterday, I was really hoping the rain would hold off at least until we got the strawberries picked. Well guess what? It did hold off, in fact it didn't rain at all last night and we were able to go pick strawberries. We headed out about 4pm to Felzke Farm in DeWitt to pick our containers of strawberries. It was only about 90 degrees, but it had to be done. Actually it didn't feel too bad until we had to lug our heaping mounds of strawberries through the field! Last year the strawberries were quite small which meant we had to pick a lot more and it took longer. This year the strawberries were HUGE and inappropriate (I'll get to the inappropriate in a moment). I think I picked a little over 16lbs. last year. This year I guess I got a little carried away because I ended up picking 18.30 lbs.! Here's my box.

All together between the 5 of us, we picked a total of, drum roll please..... 81.19lbs of strawberries! It took us about an hour to pick which wasn't too bad. Here's a photo of my friends Liana and Ellen picking at the strawberry farm and a photo of all of our 81.19lbs. of strawberries!



We headed back to my house this year to make the jam. I offered up my kitchen this year since Liana so graciously let us trash her's last year. Once we got our stations set up, we were all off to clean the berries, smash the berries, add the sugar, boil the pectin, mix it all together, pour into containers and repeat the process over and over. In between all these steps there was wonderful conversations & lots of laughs, which lead to some oopsies along the way. First up, the strawberries gave us lots of laughs. While we were out picking we ran across some weird shaped strawberries. Some were big, some were small, some looked like butterflies, and some looked like... well let's just say we decided we were in the "adult section" of the strawberry patch. Take a look for yourself.

See the bottom right one looks like a butterfly.
The one at the top right has a Siamese twin.

Here's another pic, I took this morning with the one's I had left that came out a little better.

None of us had ever seen strawberries like this so of course guess where our minds went... right to the gutter. It did make for some good laughs out in the field and while we were cleaning them. Thanks to Elizabeth though because she was keeping it clean with saying some looked like they had Mickey Mouse ears... yeah, o.k. Elizabeth we'll say that when the kids are around! LOL!

When making the jam, after smashing the berries and mixing with sugar you're supposed to let it stand for about 10 minutes. Then you boil some water and pectin (Sure Jell) and when that's done mix in with the strawberries. Stir all for 3 minutes and pour into containers. So in between the waiting 10 minutes, stirring 3 minutes, we're all chatting away, eating pizza, cleaning more berries, and listening to my two wonderful kids that had come home and decided to put on a crabby fest for everyone (sorry ladies). At first we watched the clock to wait the 10 minutes, set timers when the pectin was boiling for a minute, but then as the night went on we kind of ended up winging it and thinking, "yup that was 10 minutes, yup that was about a minute, sure I stirred for 3 minutes." Apparently the conversation and laughs got the best of some of us.... Liana, Elizabeth!

Liana smashed a batch of her strawberries, stirred in the sugar and was chatting away thinking she was on the last three minute part, and then went right to pouring in the container. Sara noticed and asked her if she added the pectin. Liana's reply, "I don't know didn't I, I thought I did." NO Liana you didn't add the pectin! Come to find out that wasn't the only batch she didn't add the pectin, there were two other batches sans pectin. She emailed us all this morning and said she was making jam at 6:30am today because she woke up to some containers with solid sugar on the bottom and pure liquid berries on top. Note to Liana for next year, ADD 1 BOX OF PECTIN PER BATCH! LOL!

While we all took turns at the stove to boil the pectin and water, I think it was Elizabeth who spent the most time at the stove. She stirred and stirred away at the pectin and water several times before realizing the burner wasn't even ON! Liana and Elizabeth don't be mad for telling your oopsies, it really did make for some great comedy!

The kitchen did get trashed, but not as bad as I thought it would. Here's one part of the mess below. That's Ellen plugging away after she took a break to run home and feed the baby.

Everyone contributed to clean up so it was back in shape in no time! I ended up making 24 containers of jam. Here's all my jam!
I hope that's going to be enough! I think I made around 27 last year! I wanted to save some strawberries to eat (Em loves strawberries) and some to make a pie! If I run out I'll have to be calling on one of my jam friends for a loaner! We all had different containers between the five of us which you can see below.
So overall we made a grand total of.... drum roll again please.... 142 containers of strawberry jam! It was a great night had by all and I'm sure we'll all enjoy our 2009 jam for the next year! I see lots of pb&j's and English muffins in our future! Maybe, just maybe some of you (if you're a faithful blog reader- you have to follow me) will share in the jam joy if you're lucky, and I show up at your doorstep with yummy, delicious, homemade jam! I'm thinking if you're a loyal reader I will enter your name to give one of my jams away. (A lot of hard work & money went into making this jam!) Thanks ladies, Liana, Ellen, Elizabeth, & Sara for our 2nd year of jammin'! It was loads of fun, and I can only imagine what jam making will bring next year! We've determined that jam time brings babies as well. Last year Ellen was pregnant, this year Sara is pregnant. Now Ellen tells us we have to keep with tradition and someone has to be pregnant next year... NOT IT ladies!

Here's the famous recipe: Strawberry Freezer Jam

(These amounts are for ONE batch)
1 quart fully ripe strawberries (2 cups crushed)
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 box fruit pectin (Sure Jell)

* Make sure you have clean, dry plastic (or glass jars) freezer containers ready beforehand.
1. Remove strawberry stems and rinse gently with water. Pat dry.
2 Crush berries until you have 2 cups exactly. Stir in sugar.
3. Let stand for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
4. Mix water and pectin in small saucepan; bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling and stirring for 1 minute. Careful not to burn.
5. Remove from heat and add to fruit mixture; stir constantly for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy; a few sugar crystals may remain and that's o.k.
6. Fill containers immediately within 1/2 " of top.
7. Wipe off top edges and immediately cover with lids.
8. Let stand at room temp. 24 hours.
9. Your jam is now ready to use, and can be stored in fridge for up to 3 weeks or frozen up to 1 year. (Note, we've all had a container in fridge for more than 3 weeks and it still tastes fine.)
10. Thaw frozen jam in the fridge before using.

*For about the amount I made- I used approx. 15-20lbs. sugar, 16lbs of strawberries, and about 10 boxes of pectin.