Due to an ill timed tornado watch on Thursday evening, despite it being a holiday, I got up at my regular work time on the 4th so I could be at Maxwell’s Farm when they open at 8:00. The above was the fruits (pun intended, hardy har) of my labors. 13 pounds later. I was home by 10:00. My hamstrings may never forgive me. But I digress.
Since I was on call (bad thing about having a Canadian subsidiary), and couldn’t go anywhere (which was ultimately a good thing, since the weather that afternoon turned crappy due to a certain hurricane named Arthur hovering out in the Atlantic), I made jam. Hulling those dang things took a good chunk of the morning, and that afternoon, I made batch number one: regular strawberry jam, using the same recipe I made with my mother a few summers ago that produced the batch of jam we termed the spackle. It was delicious, but you could totally have spackled walls with it. This time, I employed a gel test. It’s taking its dear sweet time to set (which the last batch did too, so I’m not too worried yet), so let’s hope it comes out with a good consistency.
And from today, Strawberry Balsamic jam, specially requested by my step-father, and still in its 24 hour after processing rest. Both recipes came from the Ball Complete Book of Preserving book. The little bits I was able to lick out of the pan are very promising.