Canned Strawberry Jam without a Canner

When I was a kid, I always looked forward to June. It seemed like the day school let out mom would load up the station wagon and we'd head to upstate NY to see her folks. Her sisters would meet us there and we'd have a huge party. Well, okay, maybe not a party, but a lot of fun.

One of the things we cousins did was watch our moms make strawberry jam. We'd come in and out of the kitchen getting our hands smacked by whichever mom was standing over the strawberry bowl we were stealing from.

Our mothers toiled   a l l     d a y     l o n g. The reward was strawberry shortcake for dessert that night and homemade jam throughout the year. Gotto love me some strawberry shortcake.

As we've grown up, gotten married, and had kids of our own, my sisters and I have gone to mom's to put up jam, peaches, and corn. In the last few years, I noticed mom stopped using a canner for jam. This piqued my interest for I don't own a canner. Bad girl!

Last week, my sister Johanna and I decided we wanted to make strawberry jam without a canner to see if we could pull it off. We were going to do the whole shabang - go out to the fields and pick our own strawberries like my mom and her sisters used (to drag us) to do, but it's been hot. Really hot. Like 100 degrees hot.

Also, I'm moving so I don't have time to pick strawberries one day and then the very next day turn around and make jam. My sister has five kids so her calendar is just as busy.

We made an executive decision and bought strawberries from a local farm stand. We paid $5 a quart and needed 6 quarts to make 2 batches of jam, one for me and one for her. We decided to buy an extra quart for our collective 8 kids so they didn't salivate over the berries all day only to watch them all be turned into jam. When the farmer saw how much we were buying, he threw in an extra quart for free. We scored 8 quarts (16 pints) of berries for $35.

Here's what we did:

We sterilized our jars by putting them into the dishwasher and running a regular cycle with heat dry.

While the washer was going we got to work on the berries. First we measured them out and washed them.

Then we pulled out some funny ones and laughed. This one reminds me of the little inky octopus in Finding Nemo.

This one reminds me of the face of Jesus. Just kidding! It reminds me of siamese twins. Duh!

Then we got serious again and starting hulling the strawberries which simply means taking off the green part. You can cut them in half or quarters as you throw them into your bowl.

Once you hull and cut them, you mash them with a potato masher or, as in our case, a pastry cutter. I don't have a potato masher, what can I say?

While Johanna was mashing, I mixed together two packets of Sure-Jell (it's in the baking aisle - if you're lucky enough for your store to sell it - and looks like a small box of Jello) and 1/2 cup of sugar according to the directions in the Sure-Jell packet. We were doubling the recipe. You only need one box for a single recipe. (*note: make sure you use the exact amount of sugar the sure-jell calls for or your jam won't set)

We transferred our mashed berries into a large stock pot and then stirred in the Sure-Jell/sugar mixture.

And we waited for the berries to come to a rolling boil.

While we were waiting for a boil, Johanna measured out the rest of the sugar... (here's a free tip - don't talk while you're counting. It's easy to lose track.)

...I sterilized the lids by boiling them in a sauce pan.

Once the berries came to a rolling boil, we poured all the sugar in, stirred it and waited for it to come back to a rolling boil. When it did, we let it boil while stirring constantly for one whole minute.

Then the fun began.

Johanna started grabbing super hot jars from the barely done dishwasher and ladling jam into them.

Sure-Jell says to fill them to within 1/8 inch of the top. We did our best.

I began taking lids from the hot water...

And clamping them onto the hot jars of hot jam.

Notice the theme.... it's important all the parts be HOT. Also make sure the rim of the jar is completely dry and clean so the lid will seal.

Once the jars are full, turn them upside-down to cool. On your microwave. Because that's how my mom does it.

Somehow the hot jam, the hot jar, and the hot lid work together creating a vacuum seal as everything cools. Johanna and I were nervous it wouldn't work and we'd end up with 17 jars of jam that needed to be eaten STAT.

To our amazement they all sealed. Every single one. We were thrilled. Thrilled enough to squeal and give each other a high five. We did it! We're domestic divas.

And then, of course, we had homemade pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Our mother and children would expect no less.