Strawberry Jammin'

What do you do when you have a flat of over-ripe strawberries?  Make strawberry jam!  My parents bought some fresh strawberries and couldn't eat them all, so they gave me a couple of quarts of them so I could make strawberry jam.  The first time I ever made it was last summer, and my sister helped me.  I wasn't sure if I could do a good job of it by myself, but I couldn't stand to see all of those yummy strawberries go to waste!

I don't have a water-bath canner, so I borrowed a great big pot from my mom-in-law next door.  I also didn't have any pectin, so I had to try a new recipe that didn't call for pectin.  I did (thankfully!) have some 4-oz. jars with flats and rings left over from last year.

The recipe sounded simple enough.  It only called for two ingredients:  strawberries and sugar.  While I cooked them, I put on a huge pot of water to boil.  Here's a tip for those of you, like me, who don't have a "real" canner.  Canners normally come with a trivet for the bottom of the pot so the jars don't sit on the bottom of the pot and break.  Since I was using a pot, not a canner, it didn't have a trivet.  A friend told me to use extra jar rings on the bottom of the pot as a make-do "trivet."  It worked really well!  Of course I had to be careful when placing my jars into the boiling water to be sure I didn't cause the rings to shift around.  It wasn't too difficult, though, and it was certainly better than putting jars on the bottom of the pot where they might break.  (That happened to me last year when I was canning tomatoes.  It was a terrible mess!!!)

Once the strawberry/sugar mixture had cooked to the right temperature, I put it in my 4-oz. jars.
I like to make plenty of small jars of whatever I happen to be canning so that my husband can give them to his office workers at Christmas.  Homemade pickles and jams are some of the things we've given his office folks in years past, and they are always enjoyed.  We feel like giving a few small jars of homemade goodies shows his office folks that they are appreciated and that we took the time to make something that we hope they'll like.  It's much more personal than buying gifts for them, and it's easy to dress up the jars with pretty fabrics or a pretty dish cloth.

I was able to make 14 (4-oz.) jars plus one jar of about 6-oz.  Because I didn't have new lids for the last 3 jars, I just put them straight in my refrigerator instead of processing them for storage.   My family will eat one jar of the jam, and we'll share the other two jars with family members.

The jam turned out to be really yummy!  It didn't gel quite as well as I would have liked, but it was certainly good enough.  And I was really pleased that I didn't mess up the entire kitchen making it, and it didn't take all day either!

I plan to let my younger daughter help with the next batch of strawberry jam that I will make in the next week or so before strawberry season is over.  She is really enjoying taking on more responsibilities in the kitchen even though she's only 9 years old.  I just have to remind myself to allow her to help and to encourage her efforts!

Do you have particular fruits or veggies that you like to can or freeze every year?  Do you include your children in the canning process, or do you prefer to do it with a friend of by yourself?