27 pounds of strawberries = one year's worth of freezer jam

At least I hope so! Last year I made my first foray into strawberry freezer jam, and I was hooked on how amazingly good DIY jam is compared to store-bought. There really is no comparison. I only made enough to last us three months or so because we lacked freezer space. Well, now we have a second freezer and PLENTY of space, so the goal this year was to make enough to last until next berry season. We eat a lot of jam in this house, particularly since my son's main protein source is peanut butter. (And yeah, I'm looking forward to stirring it into my beloved oatmeal and mounding it onto morning toast.)

On Sunday my family headed out to Lee Farms in Tualatin to pick Shuksan's at $1.25/pound, and we took home 27 pounds. An afternoon of rinsing, topping, processing, mixing and pouring netted 27 pints of jam, which I think will get us through. I'm heading out again tomorrow to pick more to freeze whole for smoothies.

There is something so soulfully nourishing about this whole jam-making process for me. I don't bake bread or can fruits and veggies (yet), so aside from freezing summer veggies this is kind of my biggest food preservation endeavor. The picking -- getting close to the dirt, hands sticky and shoes muddy. Handling each berry and inhaling the intoxicating sweetness of a mess of berries jelling in sugar and pectin. The rows of jars lined up in the freezer, waiting their turn. I feel like a provider. The only thing that could make it any better was if I were growing the berries myself.

Last year I pondered pectin and its various ingredients (and got some great suggestions in the comments of that post). Because we are finishing up our kitchen remodel and I've been really stressed out about it, I used the familiar Ball no-cook freezer jam pectin, which contains preservatives. I just couldn't handle experimenting with something new this year. But I learned that I can produce a year's worth of jam, so that next year I will come armed with this knowledge and hopefully ready to try a more natural pectin. Baby steps, right?