Let's get Jammin'!!!!

We are growing strawberries in our home garden, but we really wanted to make some strawberry jam. We do not have enough strawberries at one time to make a good-sized batch, so we drove up the road a bit to one of our favorite strawberry patches to go to: Porters in Fuquay. The staff there are so friendly and the strawberries are amazing! Though, I think this is the last trip for us until next year. We saw quite a bit of fuzzy strawberries since it's getting to the end of the season. 

They love to pick berries

To prep the jam, there was a lot of prep. The process itself doesn't take long, but we had a lot of waiting time. 

1.  Use your favorite Jam recipe (I use one without Pectin)
2. Hull your strawberries (this is by FAR the longest part of the process)
3. Wash strawberries
4. Start Water Bath canner to heat up. This took a while.
5. Put strawberries on the stove to boil and mash them with a potato masher.
6. Sanitize your jars and lids. Warm jars in oven at the lowest setting. This prevents jars from breaking.
7. Add sugar and lemon juice (per your recipe). 
8. Pour mashed strawberries into jars.
9. Leave appropriate headspace and remove bubbles along the sides.
10. Place seal and ring on the jars.
11. Make sure water bath canner water is boiling.
12. Place carefully in a water bath canner pot. The water level SHOULD be about 1" above the lids.
13. Bring water back to a boil and let sit for 10-15 mins. 
14. Pull the cans out carefully.
15. Allow to sit for 24 hours or at least until the lids pop.

Strawberries starting to boil

Warming up the jars after being sterilized

Water Bath Canner almost ready

Final Product! Waiting for the seals to POP and now we have jam that is good for up to a year (granted it probably won't make it past a couple of weeks).