C & I have a small strawberry patch that, in a good year, produces plenty for us to eat on and a few to freeze. Last year was a terrible strawberry year so we had none left over in the freezer. Thankfully, the same can’t be said for this season. Our little plants are loaded down with berries and I am picking a good sized bowl every day. Still, that wasn’t quite enough to please us so, in the last week, I have worked up 5 GALLONS of berries bought from a family friend.
I also have a new toy in my food arsenal that has been on my wish list for a while…a chest freezer! I am so happy with it. I bought it on Lowes.com and they delivered it for free from my local store. How easy is that? Now I can freeze all sorts of things.
Anyway, back to today’s recipe. I made peach freezer jam last year so I had to make some strawberry this year. The recipe is from Our Best Bites, but it seems to be just the basic freezer jam recipe that is very popular. Here goes…
2 cups crushed strawberries
4 cups granulated sugar
1 box Surejell
3/4 cup water
Mash the strawberries and measure out two cups. Mix the sugar in the berries and let them sit for about 10 minutes.
During this time, mix the water and Surejell together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and let cook for 1 minute. Pour the Surejell into the berries and stir for 3 minutes.
Ladle the strawberries into sanitized jars leaving about 1/2 inch headspace and put on the tops. Let these stand at room temperature for 24 hours and then refrigerate. These will keep in the fridge for about a month or in the freezer for a whole year. I have been loving this on a buttered bagel in the mornings. It is so much better than anything you can buy at the store.
Picture Perfect Cooking 