Yesterday was a long day at work and then I had to turn around and be there first thing this morning, so I decided to take the afternoon off... and make some jam! I bought 4 quarts of strawberries and a pound of rhubarb (I already had another pound at home) at the market this morning and started making jam as soon as I got home. Within a couple of hours I ended up with 6 half-pint jars of rhubarb/strawberry jam and four more of plain strawberry jam, with a quart of strawberries left for us to eat fresh!
The recipes I used for the jam are super simple. I don't use any added fruit pectin, which just means you have to boil it for longer to get it to set up. I probably should have let the rhubarb batch cook longer, but overall, I'm pleased with the results. Here's a few photos and the recipes!
Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam (adapted from Simply in Season)
6 cups Rhubarb (diced)
2 cups Strawberries (lightly mashed)
Cook together until they start to boil then add:
3-4 cups Sugar
Continue boiling hard for 20 minutes or so, until it reaches gel stage. (An easy way to check for this is to sick a COLD spoon in the boiling jam and hold it up - it should all come off in a sheet rather than drips).
Pour hot jam into hot half-pint jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes before carefully moving to the counter to cool.
Strawberry Jam (adapted from Choose-a-Berry Preserve recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)
8 cups strawberries
2.5 cups sugar
Combine in a large pot and let sit for 10 minutes or until strawberries release their juices. Turn on the heat and boil hard for 15 minutes or until it reaches gel stage. Pour hot jam into hot half-pint jars. Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes before carefully moving to the counter to cool.
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