Strawberries!

From yesterday... Blogger site was down.


It's finally summer, and with the warm weather comes a whole different season... Strawberry season!  I've never in my life been so excited for strawberries, but this year I was a preparing for a new mission: jam!

Sara went out to pick the berries today while I was at work, so as soon as I got home, it was on!  My entire childhood, my mom made jam.  Every fruit we grew, and even some we didn't, went into jam.  I don't think I had store-bought jam until I moved away to college.  So I was so super excited to relive those childhood memories of good ol' fashioned homemade jam!  But I never go to help my mom make the jam, so I honestly had NO IDEA what I was doing!

Turns out, it's not too hard.  There's a little finesse that goes into it, but for the most part it's pretty simple.  Mix your berries, bring them to a boil, add sugar, (here's where the finesse comes in...) boil again for EXACTLY 1 MINUTE, then ladle into jars.  More finesse: leave 1/4 of an inch at the top, no more no less, to ensure proper sealage.  Then process them (boil them in a HUGE pot or water) for 7 minutes, and let cool.  Done!

We ended up with WAY more strawberries than we needed today, so we're going to attempt some crazy flavors in a couple weeks.  If anyone has any ideas, feel free to pass them on!  Just remember, they must include strawberries.

So, thanks Sara, for letting me savor those childhood memories, and teaching me how to recreate them myself!