A Mountain Hearth Recipe for Strawberry Jam and Life
Ingredients:
A local Farm
Friends and People You Love
4 cups fresh picked strawberries
3/4 to 2 cups sugar
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup water
3 tsp Pomona’s Pectin
4+ tsp Pomona’s calcium water (comes with pectin)
Step 1: Do It Yourself!
Strawberry jam, and most things in life are sweeter when you do it yourself. The fruits of our own labors made with our own hands are going to mean a whole lot more than something you got off the shelf of a store. Money cannot buy that sense of satisfaction and self-sufficiency.
Step 2: Support Your Local Farms
There is food being grown by local farmers all around us, a lot closer to home than we even realize sometimes. If you have enough space to grow all your own berries, even better. If you are super busy, pick up a flat at a farm stand or farmer’s market. Otherwise, support your local economy, save all the energy and cost of shipping and grocery stores and visit a local farm for U-Pick. This cost is also saved by you in the price you pay for fruit, and you can stock up for the year if you have some freezer space or canning jars.
Step 3: Everything is More Fun with Friends
Making a trip to a local farm for U-Pick is a perfect activity to do together with friends. It’s more fun, the work goes faster, and it’s a great time to chat. These are the kinds of memories you will always keep and look back on with a smile.
Step 4: Find a Partner Who Enjoys Working and Playing Side-By-Side
It is wonderful having someone you love who will wholeheartedly play together and also share the load equally. Whether it be house work, yard work, picking berries, or making jam together in the kitchen, two sets of hands make lighter work and the good feeling of a shared investment.
Step 5: Work Hard, but Also Make Things Easy on Yourself
Hard work is satisfying. It gives you the feeling you’ve earned things in life. It is good to work hard, but it is also good to value your time. If you decide you don’t want to take the extra time to can your jam, and go with the easier freezer jam recipe, achieving the same result of jam for the year, go for it! I fully encourage giving yourself a break sometimes. You still end up with jam.
Step 6: Figure Out What you Like and Do That!
I discovered I like strawberry jam better as freezer jam than as canned jam. I tried over and over making canned strawberry jam and just didn’t want to eat it. I can all my other jams and think they’re great. I know that freezer jams fill up freezer space, are harder to give as gifts, don’t keep quite as long, and rely on electricity for storage, but all these things don’t matter if I don’t like it. Maybe it’s because I grew up eating my Grandma’s strawberry freezer jam and that’s what I’m used to? Regardless, I finally figured out I needed to just go with what I liked. Being true to ourselves makes for happier lives.
Step 7: Jam Like you Mean it!
Mash the strawberries and stir in lemon juice and sugar. I always go with the middle ground and use about a cup. The cool thing about Pomona’s Pectin is that you can use whatever range of sweetness you want. I like having options. Then boil your water and pulse in a food processor while adding pectin powder. Blend for about 2 minutes. Stir this into your fruit mash. Then add the calcium water until the jam starts to jell. Ladle into clean jars leaving about an inch head space and freeze. They say it keeps a year in the freezer and week in the fridge once thawed, but I am still eating strawberry freezer jam from two years ago that is fine, and I’d say it will keep a couple weeks in the fridge.
Step 8: Enjoy!
This is the first time I'd ever heard of freezer jam. I had a go at making it but we don't have pomona's pectin here or calcium water so I had to modify the recipe slightly. But it tastes amazing – like the biggest most juicy strawberry straight from the garden – but in a jar!!!
Mine kept for a few days only in the fridge – we've been having it with everything!
Just ordered some Pomona's online – I like the idea of reduced sugar jams.
Hope you have some more recipes to share soon
Regards from the alps.
I'm so glad you liked it and were able to try it out! My grandma used to make it with just regular pectin and sugar and it was really good too. I really enjoy the flexibility with the Pomona's for sure. Have fun jamming in the Alps!