Strawberry Jam - May 23, 2024

Last night The Husband came home from work with about half a gallon of fresh strawberries.  "I saw the sign at the orchard," he said, "and my mouth watered, so I stopped and got some."  

I was standing at the stove, with supper about half done.  I peeked in the bag.  The strawberries were VERY ripe.  We'd never eat that many strawberries before they ruined, and we had no room in the freezer for them.  "Well, come in here and wash them, and I will make some jam. And take some to your mama.

It has been years since I made strawberry jam.  I had all the stuff to do it - jars, lids, fruit pectin.  The agricultural extension service book on canning and preserving had a recipe for strawberry jam that included only two ingredients, strawberries and sugar.  The recipe was supposed to make 4-5 half pints.  I hated to drag out the canning equipment for that small amount of jam, but I gave it a try.  

The recipe said, "Cook until thickened."  I'd never made jam without adding fruit pectin, like Certo or Sure-Jell, and I'm not a candy-maker, so I don't know the nuances of cooking with sugar.  As it started to thicken, I knew to put a little bit on a saucer to cool to check the consistency.  When the jam on the saucer looked about, I took it off the stove and canned it.  It turned out 3 half pints, plus one jar that wasn't full enough to seal.  I put that "sample jar" in the refrigerator.  

This morning, I wanted jam on buttered toast with my coffee.  I had to microwave it to get it out of the jar - it was stretchy-thick - but it tasted really good.

* * * * * * * 

I went to work a little early this morning to start on the Year 2 records.  The officer in charge of maintaining the records warned me that this year was less organized than Year 1. It wasn't much worse.  Oddly, Year 2's filing system was different from Year 1's system.  Things were categorized differently.  I can see why the office can't find anything without digging through box after box.

At the end of the day today, Year 2 paper is stacked into A-B-C piles, ready to be sorted alphabetically by last name.  This is the tedious part.  There sometimes are multiple spelling of the same person's last name, and I'm not always sure which one is correct.  

It's going to take MONTHS to do this project.