A Fruit-Sweetened 'Jam Session'

I am completely incapable of letting anything go to waste so I am under pressure to preserve the 8 lbs. of strawberries leftover from a recent wedding rehearsal dinner before they begin to rot. 

However, school is out and I now have two children to entertain (and therefore much less time to work in the kitchen uninterrupted). My natural tendency is to race to finish my entire task list at one time, but the inevitable result is a stressed out mom and frustrated, attention-seeking children. 

So, I made a concentrated decision to split my “to do” list into small steps (yeah, seems like a logical thing to do, but this is new to me).

Normally, my kids get up by 7 a.m., but Thursday morning they slept until after 8 a.m., allowing me a large window of time to get started washing, hulling and cutting strawberries. 

Since I don’t own a potato masher (the kitchen utensil of choice on all the sites I viewed), I stuck the chopped berries in my Kitchen Aid with the whipping attachment. In less than 20 minutes (and with the sleepy-eyed monsters in front of PBS), I was able to transform 4 lbs. of strawberries into “mush.” I froze the remaining 4 lbs. for smoothies or muffins later. Then, it was off to our (many) errands… one of which was to buy pectin so I could actually make the strawberry jam!

After a full day of activities including playgroup, a trip to the library, shopping and swimming I came home tired and hungry, but determined to make jam. The kids played ball with dad and I got to work. 

The recipe with Pomonas Universal Pectin varied considerably from those I had found online so I read over them carefully… several times, in fact, because I was also unpacking my bags, cleaning the kitchen, defrosting the fruit juice concentrate (I was adamant that I make the jam without sugar), emptying the dishwasher and making dinner. My daily life is the perfect opportunity to practice margin since I tend to leave so little room for error.

Despite my multitasking, I was able to complete the project.

I was a little nervous at first because the end result seemed runny, more like syrup. Fortunately, the directions specifically stated that cooling is a part of the process so (after calling my mom who has years of experience making jam) I calmed down and put the jars in the fridge to cool overnight. 

When I awoke the next morning, I was delighted to find it was the consistency of “real” preserves. I prepared the jars for freezing by leaving a lot of space for expansion (except on the smallest jar which I will use right away).

I am always so excited to make something homemade... especially when it is something I buy often. 

My strong dislike of the grocery store (and its high prices) have prompted similar lessons in making pancake syrup, applesauce, BBQ sauce, rice milk, bread (although my kids won't eat it) and taco seasoning. This "jam session" has given me new motivation to attempt more made-from-scratch recipes.

What do you buy often that could be made at home? What foods do you wish you could make from scratch instead of buying at the grocery store? I'd love to hear about your kitchen successes (and failures)!