Jam Day

Over the past weekend, my friend Stephanie and I made strawberry jam. This was our second year making it and I gotta say, we're pros! We used the no-nonsense strawberry jam recipe from Canning For a New Generation that we had used previously. It's straightforward, low(ish) on sugar and, most importantly, delicious. Stephanie has a massive kitchen and lives near a fabulous market so it was an easy choice whose home to base our jam camp in. ;) We gathered our supplies, donned our aprons and soon reeked of hot fruit.

This book has been wonderful. Interesting recipes, comprehensive instructions,
thorough background information.

Our supplies. Ready to go!

Tag team strawberry choppin'.

It's amazing how this much fruit makes so little jam. (This is half a flat.)

Someone always has to be watching the pot!

SO FROTHY! Letting the berries and sugar simmer releases
a crazy amount of juices.

Then we temporarily drain out the juice and boil it for 20 minutes
in order for it to thicken. This is not the best time to walk away
from the stove, as we have learned :)

See? Two jars! For all those berries!

It was our duty to sample the jam with tea biscuits. And it was divine!

In the end, from a flat of berries we got about four 500ml jars. It can be a pricey, time-consuming endeavour but if you've ever tasted homemade jam you'll know that it's more than worth it! Next up: blueberry!