Strawberries are delicious, but I didn’t know they could be that delicious until I tasted one at our local farmer’s market. The guy claims that they have the best strawberry in town, well I agree, and it seems that everyone who has tasted their strawberries agrees. So lazy people like us who usually shop farmer’s market after 11am are too late for their strawberry because he’s out of strawberry way before 10 o’clock. Since when strawberry become so demanding. Over the past couple weeks, I have to set up alarm at 9am on Sunday, get up, don’t wash face or brush teeth, don’t make breakfast, run straight to the farmer’s market, in order to join the strawberry robbery crowd. Seriously, it should be called robbing instead of buying……  Poor other strawberry farmers, they were left with a bunch of strawberries sitting there without anyone’s attention.

There are two things that are abnormally abundant lately in my kitchen, strawberries of course, and mason jars which apparently I have ordered way too much for my wedding reception. Naturally, I thought, let’s can some jams, whatnot!

Strawberry and Raspberry Jam Canning Recipe

Ingredients

4 cups chopped strawberries

1 cup raspberries

3 cups sugar, divided

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 lemon, zested and juiced

Method

Wash and chop berries. Toss them with 1.5 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract and place in a large bowl. Allow the berries to macerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.

When you’re ready to make the jam, prepare three half pint jars: Wash jars, lids, and bands in hot soapy water, rinse well.

Pour macerated berries into a large heavy duty pot and add the remaining 1.5 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer until the jam reaches 220 degrees. Add the lemon zest and juice in the final 5 minutes of boiling.

Once the jam has reached 220 degrees, remove the pan from the heat. Pour jam into prepared jars. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings and boil in a large pot filled with water covering the jar at 1 inch above for 10 minutes.

When time is up, remove jars from water bath and let them cool on a towel-lined counter top. The center of the lid will be pushed down itself. If not when jars are cool enough to handle, use hand to push the center of lid down. If any jars are not sealed, store them in the fridge and use them first. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place.