Jammed up: strawberry jam

"NEVER AGAIN." You've used it, haven't you? I know I have. Of relevance here is the time I said it in 1994 - yes, when Annalena had not even turned 40. That was the year I decided that rather than spend money and turn Christmas into a commercial event, I would MAKE people their holiday gifts. And, since anything worth doing is worth overdoing, in Annalena's book, I decided that I would make people selections of jam. And I would start, as soon as fruit began coming into season. I WAS using the farmers' market at that time, at least for some things, and as the fruit came in, I bought SCADS of it. I bought a complete kit for making jam: a canning kettle, tongs, 8000 jars, the whole nine yards.
I should have heeded when my friend Peg said one word about the project. After a not so pregnant pause, she said:

"why?"

See, Peg had preserved because she HAD to. I was doing it because "it'll be fun, it'll be great, it'll be an adventure and I'll save so much money!"

I think I may have heard Peg whisper "right." But maybe not. In any event, it was surely an adventure.
We now speak at home of "the great preserve fiasco of 1994." It included the miracle of the expanding raspberries, the exploding brandied cherries , the "you truly are a flame, but please put your sweater out" adventure, and of course the "what flavor is this jam? Oh, just label it as purple"
All true. I swear. And I said, "never again. '

Right.

Last winter, faced with a surplus of seville oranges, I made marmalade. I made a SMALL amount of marmalade: eight cups worth or something like that. It was good. So , this spring when the vegetable goddess Nevia said "I have a hundred pounds of frozen strawberries, can you take some of them?" I IMMEDIATELY decided to make s trawberry jam.

why?

don't ask.

Well, truth to be told, if you're going to make just a few jars, and make what they call "refrigerator jam," because you don't seal it, and you have to eat it quickly and refrigerate it, it's not quite so bad.

I swear. I mean it. I really do. It is not difficult. It IS time consuming. OH LORD, is it time consuming. But you know what? I really like the jam I made. And I may make some more. See, I have friends who did not get a jar of this stuff, and there does seem to be interest in it. So, perhaps if I get to it, I'll do it again. Maybe this time I will avoid the great strawberry fiasco of 2009 (let's just say that, with the taxi fares , note the plural, involved in getting these berries, this jam may be the world's most expensive strawberry jam ever. Hopefully, you will do better.)

This recipe made nine cups for me. Here we go. You start with five pounds of strawberries. Mine were frozen, but if you get fresh, great. Either way, stem the berries. If they're frozen, you're going to leave them out overnight, in a BIGGER pot than you think you'll ever need (I am NOT kidding. This is going to boil up big time. Use a BIG BIG BIG pot. Or you will be scraping burnt sugar and carmelized strawberry juice off of your stove for the entire weekend. ). Some would say you have to cut the berries up, but I don't think so. I find that they cook down to a very nice texture if you leave them whole. Whether you use frozen or fresh, mix 3 pounds of sugar with them (this is a bit more than standard. The "rule" for jam making is one part sugar to two parts fruit). Mix them together, and let them sit overnight.

The next day, the fresh berries will have exuded juice, and the frozen ones will have thawed. Stir everything together once, and turn the heat on under the berries at LOW.

Oi, is this important. If you raise the heat too high, you will be scraping burnt sugar and carmelized strawberry juice off of the bottom of your pot for the entire weekend. You will be astonished how quickly this comes to a boil. You will be equally astonished as to how long it takes to go from boiling point, 212, to 220. It took over an hour for me. Closer to two. You need that temperature to form a soft gel, so get a candy thermometer or an instant read one, or something like that.

At 220, the jam is done. I stirred a hefty pint of whole berries into my cooked stuff, and they really were beautiful. Also, in the style of June Taylor, lovely lady that she is, I put a rose geranium leaf in each jar (remember, I'm gay. This kind of stuff comes naturally to our people. If you can't come up with a creative combination, consult your local 'mo). The jars were the one cup size, and I filled them to the top, while the jam was still hot. Then I sealed the lids, simply by closing them tight.

I always loved, and still do love, the sound as the jam cools, the lids contract, and you hear a "pop" as the lid closes down.

And you are done. You have gifts for 8 people, and one for yourself, or lots of jam for toast and cakes and pies and other things like that. But DO try to give some away. Maybe someone will even make some for you. And then you can eventually get your own collection, and maybe make a Christmas gift out of it.

Cherries come into season soon. Hmmmm.....