Strawberry Jam

I couldn’t let June go by, let all the strawberries ripen, without making at least one batch of strawberry jam. So yesterday I did. It’s not the strawberry-jalapeno jam a customer told me about Tuesday night; it’s not the balsamic strawberry jam I saw in a cookbook at the library on Monday; it’s just plain old strawberry jam made from the recipe in the Sure-Jell box. It’s the kind of strawberry jam you’re happy to take out of the pantry and spread on toast when the snow has long since covered the garden.

Strawberries are on the very, very low end of the pectin spectrum, so as much as I like the idea of just using fruit and sugar and maybe some lemon juice, my fear of the jam not setting is greater. To allay my fears I decided to turn to boxed pectin. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any in the cabin, but with some searching and climbing of ladders Y. was able to find several packages of Sure-Jell For Lower Sugar in the barn.

Inside the Sure-Jell For Lower Sugar box was a sheet of recipes for fruit jams and jellies, both cooked and frozen, and a set of instructions. I understand that in jam making, as in baking, precise measurement is important, but the instructions in the Sure-Jell package make you think that your kitchen might blow up if you add even one granule too much sugar. They use bold type; bold, red type; bold, red, ALL CAPS type; bold, red, ALL CAPS type that they then highlight. It’s enough to put one off jam making altogether, especially when all of one’s (my) measuring cups and spoons are locked safe in a seafaring container at the bottom of the hill. I decided that I wasn’t sending anyone to outer space in my jam, so measuring my sugar in a mason jar and weighing my strawberries by means of a rudimentary scale composed of a bicycle tube box, a piece of wood and a can of scungilli would probably be good enough. Judging by the results—delicious, perfectly set jam—one doesn't have to be quite as EXACT (red, bold, highlighted) as they lead one to believe.

Strawberry Jam

Adapted from the Sure-Jell For Lower Sugar instructions

• 6 cups quartered and crushed strawberries,
• about 3 pounds unprepared fruit
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 box Sure-Jell For Lower Sugar

• Wash and sterilize enough jars to hold 8 cups jam. Pour boiling water over dome lids and allow to soak, off heat, until ready to use.
• Core and quarter strawberries, then mash them with either a fork or potato masher. If some pieces don't get crushed, that's okay--it's nice to have some recognizable pieces of strawberry in the finished jam. Measure out six cups of fruit and place in large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive pot.
• Measure out sugar. Mix 1/4 cup of it with one package pectin and combine this mixture with fruit. Bring this mixture to a full rolling boil (one that won't stop bubbling when stirred) over high heat, stirring constantly. Add remaining sugar and bring back to a full rolling boil, still stirring constantly. Allow to boil 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam.
• Give it another stir, then ladle into prepared jars, leaving 1/8-1/4 inch of headroom. Wipe off rims and threads and place lids and rings on jars, tightening only finger tight. Place jars on a rack in a canner, if you have one, or a very large pot, if you don't, and cover by 1-2 inches with water. Bring water to a gentle boil. After 10 minutes remove jars and place on a towel to cool. The lids should make a satisfying pop within minutes, indicating that they've sealed. Store in a cool, dark place; refrigerate after opening.

Sealed, will keep at least a year.

Now that I have preserved a taste of June to open in December or February, when I'll really need it, I might risk trying a batch of Sure-Jell free strawberry jam. Besides, if it doesn't set, it will still taste just as good stirred into yoghurt or spooned over ice cream.

Wild Blueberries

Last summer I discovered mulberries; yesterday I picked my first quart of wild blueberries. A walk around the block brought me to the mulberries; a drive across state lines and a five mile hike was necessary to find these blueberries, but it was well worth it. Wild blueberries are the very essence of blueberry. They're not as fleshy as their cultivated cousins and their seeds are more prominent, but they taste sweeter and bluer and somehow... berry-er.

These berries are probably best enjoyed in the woods: a sweet reward for energy spent, but if you do happen to have a container with you and if you have the self control to put more berries in the container than in your mouth and if you manage not to trip over any roots or rocks on your way down the mountain and spill your hard earned loot and if there are any berries left after the car ride home, you can make a delicious jam out of them.

Wild Blueberry Jam

Adapted from the Pomona's Universal Pectin box

• 4 cups wild blueberries, mashed
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tsp. calcium water
• 1 cup sugar, more or less depending on your taste
• 2 tsp. pectin powder

• Cover jars, lids, and rings with water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn of heat and let stand in hot water.
• Place berries and lemon juice in a pot and add calcium water. Mix well. Combine sugar and pectin powder in a separate bowl, mixing thoroughly. Bring the fruit mixture to a boil. Add the sugar-pectin mixture and stir vigorously for 1-2 minutes, until dissolved. Bring back to the boil and remove promptly from heat.
• Fill jars to 1/4 inch from the top. Wipe rims clean and screw on the 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove from water and allow to cool, listening for the distinctive popping sound of jars sealing.

Give as gifts or use to fill cakes.

When I have made jam in the past, I have used only fruit and sugar and lemon juice, shying away from adding pectin. I liked the simplicity of it. What I didn't like, however, was the vast quantity of sugar required. I felt that I could hardly taste the fruit through the sweetness, so yesterday I heeded a piece of advice I overheard an old lady dispensing two jam-making seasons ago: "Just buy pectin and use the recipe in the box. It works every time." And it did work. And for four cups of fruit I used just one cup of sugar and my jam tastes like the wild blueberries from which it is made.

Raspberry Jam (Almost)

I know I said I was going to make loads of strawberry jam. Well, I didn't. I had knee surgery in the middle of strawberry season and by the time I was ready to go picking, the strawberries were gone. They say strawberry jam is one of the trickiest jams to make anyway, so perhaps it is for the best. I failed on the strawberry front, but I was not about to do the same with the raspberries. There was, of course, the added incentive of my mother's request to have fresh raspberry jam between the layers of her birthday cake.

Mom and I had planned to go raspberry picking together, but after going out the wrong road for several miles, getting iffy directions from a gas station attendant, and coming upon a farm stand selling berries already picked and sorted and just as local, we bought three pints of berries and drove home. We chose, by taste test, the Brandywine raspberry, which, according to the Woodstock Nursery of Neillsville WI, is a cross between the black and red raspberry and is "unsurpassed for jam, jelly, and pies."

Everything I read led me to believe that raspberry jam was practically foolproof. No pectin, no water, just berries and sugar and heat. And, I came to learn, experience. It seems that the fewer ingredients there are, the more technique and know how matter. Everything seemed to be going fine. The berries bubbled, the sugar dissolved, the mixture boiled for several minutes and reached the required 220°F, but my lids didn't pop and my jam didn't set. I couldn't deal with it right away--I had to go to work--but when I got home at 10 I poured the syrupy disappointment back into my pot and brought the lot back to the boil. This is probably not kosher. Leagues of grandmothers are shaking their heads, ringing their aprons, wishing they could show me the way. I wish they could too. But I did. I brought the lot back to the boil and when it reached 220°F, I let it boil a little longer. I poured it into my re-sterilized jars and went to bed, although not before making chocolate curls for the top of my mom's cake, but that's another story. In the morning, my lids still hadn't popped, but the jam was much thicker than it had been the day before. To make my jars seal I put them in my steamer pot in the deeper basket (the one I never know what to do with) in about an inch of water and brought it slowly to the boil. After a few minutes I heard three satisfying pops, turned of the heat and let the jars cool a bit before removing them. I cannot call my first jam making experience an unequivocal success, but I learned plenty and I was able to use it for my mom's cake.

Raspberry Jam

makes 3-4 cups

• 2 pounds raspberries
• 2 pounds good quality granulated sugar, warmed

• Place clean jars in a dish and place in cold oven. Set oven to 250°F. Place sugar in a shallow baking dish so the sugar is about an inch deep and set aside. When the oven comes up to temperature put in the sugar and allow it to warm for 10 minutes.
• Place berries in a jam pot, if you have such a thing, or any other wide, deep pan. Mash berries with a wooden spoon and put on low heat. Stir berries occasionally so they do not stick to the pan. When the berries begin to bubble, after about 10 minutes, add the warmed sugar and stir gently until it is completely dissolved. Increase heat and boil until setting point is reached (220°F or point at which jam wrinkles and is reasonably stiff when a teaspoonful is pressed on a plate taken right out of the freezer), 5-10 minutes. Allow jam to cool for a couple minutes, stir to distribute the fruit, and pour carefully into warm jars.

Don't feel bad if the first batch isn't quite right.

This recipe is adapted from several sources, including Jan Berry's Art of Preserving and one of my go-tos, Farmhouse Cookery. Both used equal amounts, by weight, of berries and sugar. I lost almost a pound of berries to mold (after just one day!) and was left with just 1 lb. 2.25 oz. of berries so I used the same amount of sugar. Who knows, maybe using fewer than two pounds of fruit was my first mistake. Everything I read called for warmed sugar. After some investigation (i.e. reading the basics section) I learned this is to avoid lowering the temperature the berries have already reached. Jan Berry says, "Raspberries set very well, unlike strawberries, so it makes great sense to conserve this summer fruit for cooler times." I have not given up. I am determined to try again. If this is your first attempt, though, I hope you have better luck than I.