Sunday, January 23, 2011

Freezer Jam

This is the B man one July morning when I dragged him out of the cottage to pick strawberries. It was the last day for picking and I was feeling desperate about having enough strawberries to last the year. Its hard to know how much is enough when you are planning 12 months worth.
I met many people this day and was surprised to see many had driven across the Ontario border to pick at this location. Its best not to be in a rush when doing this and to take time to chat with the people around as they seem to have interesting stories to share.

Notice how red my fingers are? I am practically delirious from being out 3 times frantically picking and getting too much sun ( but man did we score big!). we dragged all 3 loads (15-20 boxes in total) in the canoe to the cottage to freeze and then a month later drove them all back to the city to store in the basement freezer. I got a bit of a reputation lugging all those strawberries back and forth.

Now it is January and I have made loads of strawberry jam, but his time I wanted a change and decided to make freezer jam. A lady whom I met strawberry picking mentioned she makes it all the time and claims it to be delicious. She is the same lady who told me you can buy Certo with 1/2 the sugar which is great because I find jam to be overly sweet tasting. See all the things you can pick up while hunched over searching for berries in a field? This batch is Strawberry Banana Jam and it is sooo easy to make. You don't need any canning equipment which makes it a wonderful first project. The picture doesn't capture the colour but in real life it is bright...way brighter than cooked jam. I call it raw food jam and is probably healthier than the cooked stuff. I mix it wth home made plain yogurt with a few nuts. Mmmmmm. So far those strawberries have lasted 7 months and there are 2 more bags left.

3 comments:

  1. After all this, Where is the recipe?
    Bye!

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  2. Oh, right...the recipe! Actually it is on the inside of the Certo Light box.

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  3. I would love the recipe too! Can you email me on FB?

    And I love seeing the photos of you and B. The sun shining, bright smile, you exude LIFE Gail and I see a link between us and the Fortney passion for life.

    ReplyDelete