Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Jammen' With My Ladies

I got together with my gals a few days ago to make STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM!  Yumm.  On dear soul had never made freezer jam, or any other kind for that matter.  She asked, "What do you do?  Buy Smuckers and strawberries, stir them together and freeze it?"  If you are in the same boat, let me tell you, it is just about that easy, but CHEEPA!
 
I am lazy, I don't mush my berries by hand.  I thought I would just throw that out there to take the pressure off.  I throw them in the blender and blend just until the berries start to swirl-so they are mushy, but might still have a chunk or two. 
If you are wanting to make some jam too, you will probably want to buy some pectin.  I bought the good-old stand by, SureJell, from the canning area at Walmart.  My grandma has a simply fabulous recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb jam that doesn't use pectin, it uses Jello.  Since I live in Arizona and don't have a relative that loves me enough to mail me some rhubarb (won't name names MOM), I can't make that kind. 
Follow the directions on the box.  #### 1 rule- read the directions before you start!!!  I, of course, did not and ended up making my first batch the processed kind cause I added the pectin too to the fruit and sugar.  Don't do that.  Most brands of pectin tell you to boil the pectin with water for a minute, while the sugar and berries are sitting together in another bowl.  Ooops!
Now, my friend Nicole
Don't you just love the apron?  She bought, what I kindly termed, the idiot's pectin.  It ended up the kind the rest of us wished we had bought.  There is the purple box in the picture, in fact.  The low-down: Freezer jam you don't have to turn the stove on to make.  It cost $2.95, there are two envelopes in the box.  You mush your berries, mix with sugar, mix with pectin and water, then ladle into your plastic containers.  Ta-Dah!  All done.  Yes, MOM, even Katrina could do it!  Try it.  I dare ya.  By the way, they don't carry that kind at Walmart.  You will have to go to the supermarket to find it.  Here is the official name and a picture, although this one looks different than Nicole's




Ball Fruit Jell Freezer Jam Pectin

We were even there long enough to taste it.  It set up well and was so, so, so yummy.  It is really so easy you could make it with your 2yr old.
Did I forget to mention,
IT USED LESS SUGAR TOO!!!

Have you grabbed your car keys yet?

Send me pictures!  I want to see your yummy jam.  Better yet, send me some.  My kids have eaten all that I made.  Guess I better grab the car keys too.

1 comment:

  1. Hi!
    My name is Ashley Whipple and I blog over at Cute as a Fox Creations, http://cuteasafox.blogspot.com. My friend and I, Jax of http://AlyandAsh.com are putting together an event for Arizona Craft Bloggers. It's called the Arizona Bloggers Tour de Thrift. The event is Saturday, June 19, 2010 from 9am to about 2pm. We will be meeting up for breakfast at Mimi's cafe in Ahwatukee and then hitting 3 Goodwill stores. We would love it if you could make it!
    Here is a link to our page with all the information: http://cuteasafox.blogspot.com/p/arizona-bloggers-tour-de-thrift.html

    If you know of any other Arizona bloggers/crafters that would be interested, please feel free to pass on the information.

    We'd love to meet you! Hope you can come and join us.

    Thanks!
    Ashley

    ReplyDelete

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