Look What I Did!

I am so pleased with myself. I have made homemade strawberry jam. And more importantly... It turned out great! My husband LOVES it!

After a small investment in a few essential items I was good to go. If you are going to can at all, I really do recommend that you just go ahead and get these basic tools. They aren't that expensive and are easily found at Walmart.

Strawberries were on sale here a couple of weeks ago so I
bought a bunch and we are going to have Jam all winter! YAY!
3 quarts fresh strawberries, hulled
1 1.75-once package regular powdered fruit pectin
1/2 teaspoon butter
7 cups sugar

Place 1 cup of berries in an 8-quart heavy kettle or pot. Use a potato masher to crush berries. Continue adding berries and crushing them until you have 5 cups crushed berries. Stir in pectin and butter. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.

Add sugar all at once. Return to a full rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim off foam with a metal spoon.

Ladle immediately into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims; adjust lids. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner for 5 minutes (start timing when water returns to boil) remove jars from canner; cool on wire racks.

As the jam cools, turn the jars occasionally, top to bottom, to help evenly distribute the fruit and prevent the fruit from floating to the top of the jars. Store upright, however, to protect the seal.

My recipe that I used is from my Better Homes and Gardens book

"You Can Can"

A Guide to Canning, Preserving, and Pickling.

I would highly recommend it. It gives you really great step by step instructions which are critical in successful canning. I had so much fun that I ended up making 4 batches.