Jam report
It's now mid-June. And even though the blue skies of Monday have given way to a ceaseless, depressing grey, it's still mid-June. You know what that means, right?
Strawberry season! Yes, Oregon strawberries (so much better than the Mexican strawberries shipped into the supermarkets) are ripe or beginning to be ripe, and seems like every day I hear someone say they are heading out to pick berries or buy berries or make jam. I haven't done this yet, because of: A) school--kindergarten just ended on Tuesday; B) cloudy skies; and C) potty training. That's my focus this week. Pottypottypotty.
But next week--next week is supposed to be only partly cloudy. Partly cloudy I can deal with. Partly cloudy is probably perfect, actually. Not too hot, not too cold. And if all goes according to plan, we'll have achieved some kind of a consensus on potty by next week--thumbs up or thumbs down for now--and I'll be free for a lovely day of berry picking.
So, now let's get down to the big question that all of you have probably been wondering about, for entire year now. I know I have! Here goes: Was '09/'10 the Year of Enough Jam? Would my homemade jam last through the entire year, or would we have to resort to store-bought? Let's take a look:
Does anyone else find it funny that the label says "Preserves" and "No preservatives" right on top of each other? I don't know why that's funny to me, but it is.
Sadly, no. My children have been putting this on their morning toast for past week or so. But! It was ALMOST the Year of Enough Jam.
My stash lasted until about a month ago. Then my MOPS group made a jar of freezer jam at a meeting. And also I got some little jars of home-made jam as party favors at a bridal shower. That held us out for awhile. Then we ran out, and we were forced to resort to the stuff to the store. But we came a lot closer to making it all the way through the year on the good stuff than we ever have before.
Forty-two jars. And that was *almost* enough. And if the weather/school/potty schedule had been different, I could have gotten out to the berry fields and made my new year's supply earlier in the month. Maybe I'll do 45 jars this year? Maybe 46? One day...one day, I will succeed in my quest for enough jam.
4 comments:
Okay - this is going to sound VERY strange - but I was actually thinking about you and your jam needs the other day! :) I realized that I probably don't need to make jam this year (or at least not very much) and then I wondered if you had finally made your goal, of making enough jam! :) I know, strange. :)
I'm heading out next week too! We fell terribly short, I'll be making at least double what I made last year.I made an unusual amount of biscuits this year and thus used giant amounts of jam. Hopefully the need for comfort food will settle down, and our jam consumption! :)
You have to make pear butter this fall too. That would help to tide you over, it is kind of jam-like. You never took a jar when you were over last. I will have to see if I still have some.
Can I just say that I had some fresh Oregon strawberries yesterday and they were sooo good. They almost tasted like a different kind of berry than California strawberries! I don't know what the difference is (probably the freshness factor... I still have to buy mine at the store even though they are grown fairly locally) but I greatly enjoyed them. :)
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