tag canningbloghttp://blog.spang.cc/tags/canning/blogikiwiki2010-06-20T16:52:36Zstrawberry seasonhttp://blog.spang.cc/posts/strawberry_season/Christine Spang2010-06-20T16:52:36Z2010-06-20T16:52:36Z
<p>Last Sunday I cycled out to <a href="http://verrillfarm.com/">Verrill Farm</a> near
Concord and picked just over 5 pounds of strawberries, which I hauled
back via commuter rail / bike to the station and from the station, about
6 miles. The first few weeks of June are strawberry season in
Massachusetts, and the picking was prime. At the farm I was told, "You
can go anywhere in the field. Come back here when you're done to pay,
they're $2.75 a pound." A few strawberries got slightly but not unusably
crushed on the way back, but overall I'd deem this acquisition method
successful.</p>
<p>The plan for the berries? Make jam, using <a href="http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/how-to-make-strawberry-jam-hot-damn-this-is-good-jam/">this recipe</a>.
The next day I bought another two quarts of strawberries at the farmer's
market in Central Square since I wanted to make a lot of jam and was
paranoid that my haul wouldn't be enough. This brought the total
quantity of strawberries to 24 cups. That evening, the jam-making
commenced.</p>
<p>Washed berries with the green tops removed:</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.spang.cc/images/washed_and_trimmed_strawberries.jpg" alt="washed berries with green tops removed" /></p>
<p>Sterilizing the jars:</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.spang.cc/images/sterilize_jars.jpg" alt="sterilizing mason jars" /></p>
<p>And the lids.</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.spang.cc/images/lid_sterilization.jpg" alt="sterilizing the jar lids" /></p>
<p>While keeping the jars and lids hot, I mashed and cooked the berries,
adding sugar and lemon juice along the way:</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.spang.cc/images/mash_and_cook_berries.jpg" alt="mashing and cooking the berries" /></p>
<p>Somewhere between the half-hour and one-hour cooking point I declared
the jam done, filled 10.5 mason jars with the stuff, and then boiled the
filled jars.for 15 minutes to seal them.</p>
<p>Done!</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.spang.cc/images/finished_jam.jpg" alt="finished jam" /></p>
<p>All in all, the jam-making portion took about 4-5 hours including
stemming the farmer's market strawberries (but not the hand-picked
ones). Much of that time was merely watching the pots.</p>
<p>The resulting jam is delicious, though perhaps just slightly more runny
than jam ought to be. (Maybe I screwed up by not skimming the foam?) I'm
looking forward to "canning" (why is it called canning? it goes in
jars!) other fruits of the season as the summer progresses. I've even
bought a pair of canning tongs and a wide-mouth funnel to avoid the
hilarity of removing full jars from boiling water, terrified that the
regular tongs will slip and drop the jar and its contents to doom.</p>