Strawberries are here!

We took the kids down to Boss Hog's mom and step-dad's organic farm the other weekend (probably close to three weeks ago, truthfully) to pick strawberries and we came home with close to thirty pounds of delicious organic berries. I hadn't expected so many and even with the new enormous fridge had to go into immediate jam production. Fourteen pounds of strawberries into jam in one afternoon made for a very sticky kitchen and two very sticky little girls.

Down on the farm, Arlo was right in the berry patch stuffing everything into her mouth that she could reach. Eden however saw that she didn't have to venture into the patch to get berries. All she needed to do was to stand near Grandpa and ask repeatedly "Grandpa, do you see anything big and red?" and sure thing Grandpa would pick the best berry, pull the stem off and put it right in her mouth without her ever having to set foot in the wet (it finally rained) berry patch.

As far as the jam was concerned, I used a new method of cooking the jam to 220 degrees F, rather than using the cold plate testing method which I find tests my patience to no end. I also started looking for jam recipes that don't require extra pectin because the need to jam sometimes comes on unexpectedly with the arrival of a friend's surplus fruit (here in the Okanagan it happens pretty regularly throughout the summer). The strawberry jam worked well but when I used the 220 method for the black currant jam it was a bit stiff. Not that anyone around here minds, they eat jam like the world is coming to an end. Any jammers out there I'd love to hear your tips.