For as long as I can remember, my mom and I have ventured to the local strawberry patch each June to pick berries for homemade jam.
Photo by Julia Boyle
Now, this isn’t just any jam. It’s jam that tastes like sun-sweetened strawberries, like juicy bursts of summer, like childhood, like home. It’s tradition, and I hope to continue and pass it down to my own children someday.
Since my five-year-old niece is my substitute child, Mom and I took her to the strawberry patch this past weekend to keep the tradition going.
Photo by Julia Boyle
We taught her how to find the berries hiding under their leaves, how to pick the red ripe ones, and of course how to taste them! Once, Helen picked a pink berry, and upon Mommom (my mom) telling her that she should pick bright red ones instead, Helen responded, “Well I’ve never done this before, Mommom.” She gets her sass from me.
Despite the heat and humidity, she stuck it out, and we filled two trays to the brim with big, juicy, bright red berries.
Photo by Julia Boyle
We loaded our trays into the car and headed home. And though the hot part was just ending, the hard part was just about to begin. Hand-picked strawberries must be washed, capped, mashed, and cooked into jam. So upon arriving home, we got right to work.
I washed, capped, and mashed, while Mom heated and stirred the sugar with the Sure-Jell, the stuff that gives jam its jelly quality. (Where was Helen, you ask? She played in the pool, completely uninterested. Oh well, there is always next year.)
Once the jam was mixed, Mom poured it into clean Ball jars and let them set for several hours. I, of course, taste tested and approved each batch.
Photo by Julia Boyle
Once set, we place them in the freezer to have throughout the year. Some I save for Christmas gifts and for my “jam customers”–friends who tried it and instantly became addicted. But the rest I keep for myself to slather on English muffins, bagels with cream cheese, vanilla ice cream, coffee cake, and best of all, PB & J sandwiches. Once you have fresh-picked, you never go back.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Great story with beautiful pictures! Question for you, once the jam sets must it go into either the freezer or the fridge? Or can you set it on a shelf to open later?
June 13th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Good question! Allow the jam to set overnight, then put all but what you’re going to use immediately in the freezer. Since it’s not sterilized in a pressure cooker, you don’t want to keep it on a shelf at room temperature. It’s actually called “freezer jam.”
June 13th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Hi Julie:
Matt just forwarded us pictures of your stratberry
picking on Sat. and we were happy to get them
It looks like Helen was enjoying it and what a
nice thing for her to get to do with you and your
mom.
Beautiful berries and a lot of jars of jam to enjoy later.
Have a nice weekend.
Emma
June 16th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Between the beautiful photos and the eloquent writing - you have inspired me to get my
daughters to give strawberry freezer jam a try.
Where is a good place to find the jars? Great
story - thanks for inspiring what looks like a
fun summer project!
June 16th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
<p><p>You can pick the jars up at any regular grocery store along with Sure-Jell. We used to use Certo, another brand of jelly-making goo, but Sure-Jell requires less sugar and produces a truer strawberry taste. Sure-Jell is a powder; Certo is a goo. Good luck! It’s definitely a tradition I’ve enjoyed over the years and still look forward to every year with my mother.</p>
<p>If you want to try it out, make sure you pick the strawberries and do it this weekend, as strawberry season is quickly coming to an end. We have tried using store-bought berries in the past, and they don’t yield a quality product. For some reason the jam separates into sugary substance on the bottom and mashed strawberries on top. The phone book or a google search and lead you to U-Pick patches. Try this link to find farms in Maryland.
June 18th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Thanks for the alert about store bought
strawberries. Hopefully we can make it to a
farm near us in the next few days.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:56 am
why does the strawberry freezer jam sometimes separate as it is setting
June 25th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Martha, I think it has something to do with the amount of water in the strawberries, but I’m not positive. I know that we’ve always had better results with fresh-picked berries rather than store-bought. Which kind did you use?