Oh YES, we’ve had a wonderful harvest of strawberries. And just as I guessed they came on when Honey and I took a long needed break….but my help picked 3 gallons while I was away!!!! My future daughter in law picked in the rain! What a KEEPER!!!!
Yes 3 gallons. I had Sweet Girl freeze them since there was NO way they’d keep well until I could take care of them.
The first thing I did when I got home was go to the garden and eat off the vine! I was so desperately wanting fresh berries while we were away.
I can’t believe what a beautiful harvest I got this year from 20 plants. My first batch that I planted last spring died, and for the sake of time I just picked up a box of crowns from my local gardening center. I added lots of pine needles as mulch and then in the spring I added handfuls of composted chicken manure around the plants….then BOOM!
Our normal strawberry season in this area is late May, early June….but we had berries the first of May!
Not only are they producing prolifically, but they are oh so sweet! Even Best Girl (future DIL) said she never really liked them either BUT my berries…well, let’s just say we should of weighed her before and after she picked!!!
My first task Saturday was to pick berries and make Jam. I picked another gallon and made 9 pints of Jam and I’ll send my FIL a couple pints for Christmas now since at 88 you never know if Christmas will come. It’s kinda like eating dessert first….life is short!
Oh YUM! It’s is so good with buttermilk biscuits and homemade butter.
Go ahead and lick the screen…..no ones watching….hopefully the cam is off!
Here’s my No Fail No Pectin Jam Recipe
1:1 berries and sugar (white or sucanant)
Bring to 220* (EXACTLY) and proceed to fill sterilized jars for a water bath canning.
Process 10 min’s in the water bath.
The trick to no pectin is picking unripe fruit. Of course for me there’s no science to it, just a handful or so of unripe berries that have natural pectin. Also getting that 220* to perfection is VERY important and is the difference between hard rock jam and spreadable jam!
EAT & ENJOY!
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I also have a lot of strawberries. My mother-in-law gave me an excellent strawberry pie recipe. I also had tons of raspberries this year. When I met my jam quota, I still had tons left over. I decided to try and make wine. It has been an interesting project.