Answers about Strawberry Jam

I want to answer a couple of comments from my earlier post Strawberry Jam progress here, where everyone is able to see my answers since some folks don't read the comment sections and I think the answers are worthy of a separate post.

Shellmo,

I'm trying a recipe that doesn't use the packaged pectin. (Although I may chicken out at the last minute and through a couple of packets in the pot so as to be sure it does actually gel.)

Actually, I'm using two recipes and fudging a bit toward the middle. The cook books they came from are:
Preserving the Fruits of the Earth by Stanley Schuker and Elizabeth Meriwether Schuler and
The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving by Ellie Topp and Margaret Howard. They differed in the amount of sugar to add so I sorta split the difference.

Neither has any recipes for making doggie snacks, however, so Scout is likely to be disappointed.

Threecollie,

Whether I'm at the Aerie in PA or up at the Bolt Hole in the southwest Adirondacks, we seem to share very similar weather with your North View Dairy in the Mohawk Valley. The weather quacks say we may actually get a break in the weather--during the day--otherwise, we've got the same rains here in the Northern Tier of PA. Not enough of a break to do any haying, I'm sure, but any sunshine would be appreciated.

After eating every strawberry that came my way last spring either in strawberry pie, strawberry shortcake, sliced strawberries on cereal or over vanilla ice cream, etc., I decided to make jam this year.

I made apple sauce, blackberry jam, blueberry jam, and tomato sauce last fall. Some went out as special gifts for Christmas and some got happily eaten here. I've a little left--just enough to get me through to fall. Oh, plus we're finally finishing up the zucchini and pumpkin breads that were in the freezer. Of course, if it warms up for a week or two, the zukes will be producing by the middle of July so it will be back to baking breads, grilling zucchini, boiling zucchini, zucchini salad, etc.

The jars are washed and ready to be sterilized. I had to discard five of my original thirty. They were saved from commercial jars of spaghetti sauce and looked usable until I noticed the lip of the jar was too tall and the darn rings wouldn't bite into the threads. That still leaves me with 25 pint jars which should be enough.

I'll have to put the big water bath kettle on the stove when we sit down to dinner. It will take a loooong time for the propane to heat up and bring to a boil the two gallons or so of water. About 7 PM I'll be heating up the jam mix one final time before it goes into the jars. Which then go into the water bath a final ten minutes finish cooking, sterilize and to seal. It's going to be a busy evening but at least working over the stove will mean warmth.


UPDATE: Friday morning and I discover I read the weather forecast incorrectly. The Aerie will, indeed, get the same sloppy, rainy, foggy, thunderstorm laden atmospheric conditions as the Northview Dairy. Yeeech!