Berry Wranglin'!

Well, it's May! Time to wrangle up some berries down on the farm.

 Just look at those bright red darlings!

Here I am at the farm.  You really shouldn't watch this video.  Nope!
YouTube isn't behaving right now and won't let me upload the thumbnail but click on that link and it'll take you there.  But you shouldn't.

Anyhoo, ya'll know how to pick some berries, right? No?  NO IDEA? Well, here's how:

'Cause I know nobody's got no clue at all how to pick a damn berry.  What was I thinkin'?
 Had to annotate it some to make it a little more excitin' like.

After we picked 'em, we got ta eatin' 'em in style.




Then, we stopped by Katona Farms (just down the road a touch) to get us some asparagusses.

Yup.

 They had thin, medium and thick asparaguys for all your asparaguy needs.

Asparaguys.

And I made a farm kitty friend!

I think I'll make some easy strawberry jam with those berries now.

Hasta pronto!

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Homemade Strawberry Jam

8 cups organic strawberries, washed and hulled (this was about 2.5 quarts worth)

2 cups organic sugar

¼ cup organic lemon juice (this was about three small, organic lemons)

That's it!

First, pick your berries!  

Now, get to washing and hulling your strawberries.

Fill a large bowl with water and gently add berries.  Gently stir around to loosen dirt from the farm.  

There’s a lot of dirt in them, so really wash them well.

Remove berries from water and remove stem (there is very little you need to remove on fresh, organic berries!).  I just picked out the individual berries, cut off the tiny bit of stem, and put the hulled berries in fresh bowl. 

 Whatever you do, do NOT “strain” them out by dumping the water and berries out together, this will pour the dirt right back over the berries!  You have to lift them out.

Add the sugar, mix gently and refrigerate.  

Allow the berries to sit (refrigerated) overnight or at least for a few hours to mascerate and let the juices start to flow.

Next, add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, and mix again.  Cook down in a large non-reactive pan (I used my large, wide stainless pan that is really a small roasting pan) over medium heat until reduced into a gel-like consistency. This takes about 20-25 minutes.  

 Mash up with a potato masher while cooking to break up the berries.

Skim foam off near the end of the cooking time to get a mostly clear jam.

That’s it! You’ve got jam!  You can keep it in the fridge for up to three weeks just as it is in a tightly covered container, or you can “process” it by canning it for real, and it will last up to a year.

I just stuck it in the fridge because we will easily eat it in three weeks, and, I don’t have any canning lids as of right now…I totally need to get canning stuff!

Enjoy!