Thursday, June 19, 2008

Strawberry Fields Forever

Guess what I did last night? Lots and lots of strawberries! I buy my berries from the Salem Rotary Club every year. They do a fundraiser and I can get lots of berries for not much money. I bought 30 lbs of strawberries for $40 or so. Not too bad. The only problem is that then I had 30 lbs of strawberries I had to deal with! Luckily they come washed, hulled and sliced, so dealing with them isn't too bad. Here is what the bucket 'o strawberries looks like.
That is my youngest, Kaden, snitching some berries out of the tub. That is a 5 gallon bucket full of strawberries! Ok, in this picture it isn't exactly full, I had already fed the boy a big bowl and made two batches of freezer jam by the time I took this picture. Here is what the strawberries look like:
Mmmmm, don't those look good? My kitchen didn't look all that good by the time I was done but this sure looked great:
I did four batches of freezer jam (14 containers worth), 9 quart bags full of frozen berries that we will use when we do crepes with berries during the year, a big bowl of berries to eat the next few days and some "strawberry ice cubes" for making smoothies. Since I didn't have to slice, wash or hull them, it only took me about two hours. Not too bad, but I'm really, really tired!

Jill

4 comments:

Lynn said...

Oh I miss OR strawberries. They are so good. The ones where I live now are so small and just not as good. And the ones in the store just don't taste the same when shipped halfway across the country from CA. Enjoy your OR berrie season. :)

Anonymous said...

Yum, those berries look good. So does the cute little boy snitching some! :) Maybe by next year, I'll be more of a domestic diva like my sister, and I'll order some berries too and make jam! There is nothing better than homemade freezer jam, made with fresh Oregon strawberries!

Southerner said...

Please tell us how you make the freezer jam! I have not heard of that. Do you use it as a jelly or to top stuff or to add to smoothies or what ???

Jill said...

I actually took pictures as I made the jam this time so I can post directions. I will post the whole thing later this week. But we use this just like jam - on toast, biscuits, on waffles or pancakes. It is less "solid" than cooked jam so you could definitely use it as a topping for ice cream. It has a much fresher flavor than cooked jam because it hasn't been, well, cooked! The only down side is it takes up room in my freezer, but it is worth it.

Jill