One Sunday morning, for some reason I had an impromptu idea to go and pick strawberries. I'm not sure whey I thought about it since we haven't done it for a few years and I wasn't thinking about strawberries at all. But hey it was a great idea and I ended up producing a lot of fun photos at the end. Oh and the amazing jam. Strawberry jam is my favorite jam of all the jams.
We do a fair amount of harvesting activities thanks to the amazing environment around Pacific Northwest. But we haven't been to pick strawberries for a few years. The weather here around Puget Sound area is indecisive to say the least. One moment sunny sunshine, then shower, then stormy wind and sunshine again repeatedly all in one day. Anyway it was cold and windy when we went to the strawberry farm, but that meant less people and more berries for us. We went to a new location that we have never been and smaller farm called Bailey Farm in Snohomish, WA.
The cold weather at the small farm made our picking experience very cozy. almost intimate and authentic farm experience. The kids are getting older but still had so much fun munching on strawberries and running around the farm. We actually paid attention to the strawberries by looking at the shapes, smelling them, eating them and my daughter even found one shaped like ❤️! Couldn't be sweeter.
As the kids get older, we realize that life is becoming more about tackling tasks and getting things done, rather than taking time off to go out and do something impromptu. The kids are more into playing with friends than us. My son almost complained about the picking, calling it "the work". let them complain. I still call the decision EVERY TIME in the end because I know better and I knew he'd have fun.
Strawberries we picked were very small and very fragrant. But slightly over ripped because they were sweeter. So I decided to make them into jam to preserve. The berries already had an intense red colors because they were ripe and must be the specie. It became almost like velvet color after being cooked into jam. The flavor of the jam is amazing. Smell in the house was insane. I really wish I could transfer the smell.
I know we have enough jam for the rest of the year, but I'm tempted to go back again and make more jam. If you have a busy lifestyle and under some stress and need a chill time (and you live close enough to a strawberry patch), I recommend to go and pick your own strawberries and make some jam. It's the easiest thing you can do to calm yourself and treat yourself.
We all could use some chill time and good home made jars of jam.
Happy Father's Day weekend to you all.
Home Made Strawberry Jam
Author
Bella BonitoPrep time
1 HourTotal time
1 HourPicking strawberries and how to make home made strawberry jam.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of farm fresh local strawberries
- 2 cups of raw sugar
- one medium lemon juiced
Instructions
- Clean strawberries in running water in a large container and hull the berries by cutting off the green top. Drain the water by using the strainer. Since it a couple of times until berries are completely clean.
- Tansfer strawberries in a large pan, add raw sugar and lemon juice. Cook it over medium low heat for about 30 minutes until the juice reduces to about an half the level. Make sure to stir once in a while to avoid it from burning at the bottom. Lower the heat if the jam is bubbling too much. Let it cool down for a couple of hours.
- If you are canning, sanitize the jars. There are different ways, but I washed the jars with soap and water, then put the jars upside down and lids inside up in the over heated at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. I also put the ladle I used in the oven to sanitize.
- Enjoy the sweet home made jam!
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