I may no longer live in a house with a large kitchen and lots of pantry room to store canned goods, but that doesn't stop me from making jam. Now, I simply prepare small batches that can be used up within a month or so. Last summer, I frequently found very old, tired strawberries in the refrigerator at work; they were left over from making chocolate dipped strawberries and usually were the small ones that nobody wanted. I hated to take home perfectly good strawberries when they really didn't belong to me, but I also hated to throw away perfectly overripe strawberries once everyone else wanted to toss them in the garbage. To solve my dilemma, I started using them to make Jam. I can make the tastiest jam with the strawberries that really wouldn't taste nice if eaten fresh.
I made this particular jam with the left over strawberries from Valentine's day. Now, don't worry, I made this jam about two weeks ago or so. The strawberries were certainly well aged but not unhealthily so.
Also, with this particular batch, I added a few dashes of Rose water that I picked up while browsing the Whole Foods. Rose and Strawberry flavors pair perfectly, especially in this jam.
Making Jam:
Hull strawberries and cut out any moldy spots. Roughly dice or slice the fruits and put into a pan with Sugar, to taste (Maybe a 1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup berries?); add a splash of water (maybe a 1/4 cup of that as well?). Boil everything for a while, until it gets soft and then mash the berries and simmer the jam for 10 min or so. Remove from heat and stir in juice from Half a lemon. Allow jam to cool completely, sometimes I refrigerate it at this point. Once it's cool and has sat for a few hours or overnight, warm it back up again. Boil it for just a bit, 5-10 min. And it's done. Pour into an attractive dish or jar and use. Of course, you can add anything you want during the initially boil, Rose water, Vanilla extract(also a favorite of mine), Spices.
I could eat the whole batch with a spoon, but it's also very good on toast or in yogurt.
2 comments:
Oh, how I wish you were here to make me some beautiful jam. I will be looking for rose water now and will have to try this next time I have fresh strawberries. By the way, I planted 8 strawberry plants this week. See my garden blog spot to read about the details. Many more exciting gardening developments. Lunettesgarden.blogspot.com
Hi Mother!
Next time I come home I'll make you some, hopefully out of the lovely little strawberry plants that you just planted.
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