Sunday, June 10, 2012

Strawberry Jam Forever

Hint:  For those who don't know, you should sing the title of this post a la "Strawberry Fields Forever".  If you still don't know what I'm talking about, just never mind.

So yesterday was Strawberry Jelly making day.  It's technically Strawberry Freezer Jam, but whatever.

I'm not Pioneer Woman, nor am I Martha Stewart.  I am domestically challenged, some might say.

But I have a secret weapon.

His name is Superfrydad.


Superfrydad is a jelly making fool.  He is the driving force behind the hundreds   tens of jars we make.  We made almost 60 half pints this year.  We eat most of it & sell the rest on the black market.  Just kidding.  There's not that much of a demand for jelly on the black market.  So I hear.

Wanna know how to make Strawberry Freezer Jam (aka Strawberry Freezer Jam)?

First, you get a lot of strawberries.


Then you cut the tops off.


Be careful not to cut yourself.


Just kidding.  That is not blood.  It's pureed strawberries.  Which is the next step.
Puree the strawberries.


Then you mix in the pectin and the sugar and stir until   your hand falls off   for 3 minutes.



Pour into jars and put on lids.  Don't you hate when directions tell you stuff that you don't need to be instructed on?  Who needs to be told to put a lid on it?  Really?  Oh, I thought I'd just leave the jars open with no lid.


That's it.  Easy-peasy.

Note for food nerds:  Normally we use Sure-Jell, which comes in a box and is made by Kraft.  This year I could not find it at Wal-Mart or Food Lion.  So I was forced to use the pectin made by Ball and the directions were different.  Sure-Jell had a freezer jam recipe that required you to cook the pectin first, but you did not have to cook the fruit.  Ball's non-instant formula only gave directions for cooking the pectin AND cooking the fruit, so I used the instant because I'm lazy like that.  I missed my Sure-Jell this year & I hope this instant  crap   stuff from Ball works ok.  We do cook the fruit when we make black-raspberry and grape, but we do not freeze those like we do the strawberry.

Oh, and I forgot....the other secret weapon I have is Superfrykid, who was the official dish washer of the whole outfit.


Here's a final picture, taken by Superfrykid, in which Superfrydad looks awful and I do too, but it's the only one I have.  The bandannas were SFD's idea.  I think he secretly wants to be in a biker gang.  I'm not sure if biker gangs allow professional jelly chefs to join their ranks.  And you probably have to own a motorcycle.


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