Loo Has a Request

Loo misses homemade Strawberry Jam.

I found perfect Strawberries and bought two pounds.

Did I say two pounds.....oh no, no, no, I mean TEN POUNDS.

Which is quite a lot.

Considering the fact that there are two adults,

and two Man Cubs residing at our home.

I have memories of my mother and grandmother making freezer jam. I actually have a lot of memories of them making, baking, cooking, canning, grilling, frying, and many other things, but today I will focus on the memories of jam.

Strawberry and Raspberry were a household favorite growing up.

Grandma(Great) has an enormous raspberry patch, which is almost like raising two little boys with all of the attention it needs.

I spoke with her yesterday and even at the end of August she is still out picking her ever berry raspberries.

Maybe someday I will have some raspberries.....that will probably happen when I believe that 5am is a great time to get outside and pick for hours....

I don't predict that happening in the foreseeable future, but you never know.

Blackberries maybe, because they seem to grow wild and take little care and you can pick them whenever.

I sure had great memories in Grandma (Great)'s garden. Always looking for the darkest, most purple ones.

I first learned to chew gum and blow a bubble in Grandma's Garden.

I can even remember that it was pink EXTRA sugar free gum

(I can still sing the song from the commercial)

Maybe we should get back to the Jam

I ask myself....Why do we start jobs like this so late at night....

Because we love the kid alarm that goes off around six or before if Bug is in the house.

Jam uses Obscenely large amounts of Sugar

That's one thing that I definitely remember from my childhood. My mother would mash her fruit with a potato masher.

And the sugar. and sugar. and sugar. and oh my goodness is that ever going to mix into the berries.

(maybe next time I should find pectin for low or no sugar)

I was always told my mom and grandma great to make sure that the portions were EXACT, because if they aren't exact then the jam will not set.

Well let me just sneak a little peek to the end. My jam set up, and I added lime juice instead of lemon, and.....

I ran out of white sugar because the recipe called for 16 SIXTEEN cups of sugar.

Unbelievable!

So I used my special Raw Cane Sugar for the last.

(no wonder it took us soooooo long to get all of the grainy sugar stirred in)

Don't get me wrong......Loo did her fair share of stirring,

but eventually we hooked it up to the kitchenaid to finish the job

(even though it took another 10 or 15 minutes)

And the Pectin

Complete with LIME instead of Lemon

Just because I am still a little bit of a rebel

And you can't have that much fun with your sister without doing something silly!

I've always thought strawberries looked like tongues with taste buds.

And the final product

Divine!

Our ancestors would be proud with our jars of provident living.

And the fun memories we had making them

(at all hours of the night)

And I might say that they taste pretty good too.





I thought it might be fun to involve Bug and Bear in the Adventure...


And then I thought of the sugar and berries and hair and hands and cupboards, and anything within the reach of sticky hands.....

And I decided that my mom had WAY more patience (or kid management) that I do.

This is how Bear and Bug spent the freezer jam extravaganza :)

Until next time

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