The family and I drove over to Sam Kedem's Farm in Hastings yesterday and picked over 12 pounds of big juicy organic strawberries. Sam is the only one I know that grows organic PYO fruits, at least within driving distance from my house so we visit his farm several times a summer to get blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. Since I didn't get started until later in the evening I only canned 3 jars of strawberry jam. As you can probably tell by my photo collage my jars have that ugly foamy swirl in them. I've read in one of my Ball canning books that the foam can lessen the shelf life of the jam so I'll make sure to eat them in the next month. I should have spent some time scraping off that frothy mess but I was just so darn excited to making jam again that I didn't pay attention to that last step.
Anyone have an opinion on the foamy stuff that appears when boiling the strawberries? To what extent does it shorten the shelf life?
For anyone else that would like to try making strawberry jam I have two recommendations:
My friend Teresa turned me on to this ebook by her friend Robin. It is very informative! I've always struggled to find good canning books that are easy to understand for the beginner but also contain recipes that even the experienced canner will enjoy (once I get there); Robin's book is perfect!
The other "very easy" go to source for canning strawberries is this video:
I don't recommend the video for those wanting to learn about canning per se but more for those who just want to whip up a small batch of strawberry jam quickly without getting into all the details about canning.
Hi there! You're so right about picking them elsewhere if you don't grow them.
We have a local orchard called Butler's Orchard that is very popular in our area for picking strawberries and other wonderful goodies.
Looks like you all had fun!
I am so excited for you!! There is nothing more wonderful than making your own preserves and homemade strawberry jam tastes a million times better than the store-bought stuff.
Not sure what the frothy mess is but it's normal and they tell you to just scoop it off. :}
Lovely to be able to find an organic strawberry farmer. I think I've had the foam when making other types of jams and I don't think it affected the taste or anything.
Are you going to make other types of strawberry jam by mixing it with other fruits?
Carrie
Orchard's are so fun to visit. I wish I owned one :-)
T,
I think I'm going to try that strawberry syrup you mentioned next.
Monica,
I ended up freezing a whole bunch of strawberries so I'm going to just what you mentioned, try making other types of strawberry jam mixed with various fruits. I've always like strawberry rhubarb so maybe that one will be next.
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