Berry Fun with Annette

This is one of my favorite times of the year; those precious moments just before summer when the rain and mud have subsided, everything green seems to have blossomed overnight and the heady scent of lilacs surprises you in the unlikeliest of places. Sunny days always make me want to go for a drive in the evening, with a lingering stop outside of a Dairy Queen for a small chocolate cone. But with the first signs of summer, I always start thinking about one of my favorite warm-weather activities that I get to savor the results of during the winter months - making JAM. I inevitably end up in the storage room of the basement digging out all of the glass jars and lids and buying boxes of Sure-Jell. I have to check to see how many jars my family is requesting and how many I'm planning to give as gifts to friends on special occasions. I've even had a few people start placing orders and making special requests. When it's all said and done, I usually end up making 50 jars of jam with 15 to 20 waiting in my freezer for a cold winter day when I need a reminder of sunny summer days.

The first year I made strawberry jam, I drove out to a farm South of Ann Arbor and picked all the berries. It was a two day task to make jam; one day of back-aching work outdoors and a second day working in the kitchen actually making it. Last year, to save a day's work, I got up early on a Saturday morning in June and drove to the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market, where I bought two flats of fresh, hand-picked strawberries. A few years ago, I transplanted some rhubarb plants from a co-worker and they have happily taken root in my backyard. In between batches of rhubarb crunch (an old Mennonite recipe that is another spring favorite), I sneak some of into a strawberry-rhubarb jam.

Since I made strawberry jam last year, I'm planning to head back to Makielski Berry Farms in Ypsilanti this fall to pick my own raspberries. The Amber raspberries there are amazing. The color looks more like orange marmalade when made into jam, but I think the flavor is even better than the traditional red raspberries. I also buy or pick fresh, Michigan peaches from a local farm out near Saugatuck. This year, I'll probably end up making red raspberry, amber raspberry, triple berry (blackberry, red raspberry and amber raspberry), red raspberry-peach and peach jam. My freezer will be packed full until I see everyone that I've promised a few jars, but that never seems to take long.


Strawberry Jam

4 pints fresh strawberries, crushed (not pureed) with stems removed
3 cups sugar
1 box Sure-Jell fruit pectin (No Sugar Needed box)
1 cup water

1. Wash and rinse freezable plastic containers.
2. Pour sugar and Sure-Jell into a large saucepan. Add water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute and remove from heat.
3. Immediately add strawberries and stir for one minute.
4. Pour into prepared containers, leading 1/2" space at the top for expansion during freezing.
5. Cover and let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Refrigate up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year.