“Hey, Gran, you got any strawberry jam?” When my Grands ask this, they mean homemade Strawberry Freezer Jam and they know the answer is yes.
As long as I can slice and chop and stir and pour, there’ll always be strawberry jam in my freezer. It’s a family tradition. Mom served homemade jellies and jams alongside hot Martha White biscuits, and her strawberry jam was my favorite.
After I married, Mom gave me jars of strawberry jam for my birthday. It was a gift of work and love; she picked the berries from Dad’s and her strawberry patch and washed, chopped, and cooked. My children ate peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches so I get a bit sentimental when my Grands do the same.
Last week as I watched twelve-year-old Annabel stir peanut butter and jam together in a bowl and then spread it on bread to make her sandwich, I remembered that both her mother and I had done the same at her age. And another Grand, age 10, takes PB & J sandwiches in his school lunch bag every day so he makes five sandwiches at one time and freezes them to have throughout the week.
Strawberry jam isn’t just for biscuits and sandwiches. Have you tried it on cornbread? That’s 10-year-old Lucy’s favorite. Her older sister, Elsie slathers sour dough rolls with butter and jam. Muffins baked with a spoonful of jam in the middle are a treat. A plain soda cracker topped with strawberry jam would probably be tasty – a bite of salty sweetness.
Strawberry Freezer Jam could be called Congealed Strawberry Sugar since the ingredients are twice as much sugar as fruit and pectin. One time to cut cost, I used a less expensive store-brand sugar and the jam never “set-up,” but it was delicious ice cream topping. I learned my lesson: use name brand, high quality sugar.
But all pectin may be the same. Because only store-brand pectin was available where I shopped recently, I took a chance and bought two boxes. Last week, I made six recipes of jam, four with expensive name brand pectin that I’d bought earlier, and two with the cheaper store-brand. There’s not a smidgen of difference in the taste or consistency.
I’m sentimental about jam jars. Store bought jelly jars and recycled grape jelly jars work well, but my granny’s snuff glasses with tin tops that Mom filled fifty years ago are my favorites. Last week, my Grand teased me as she wiped clean the tops of the filled jars and put lids on them. “Gran, what if someone thinks it’s snuff?” she asked.
Six recipes make a lot of jam – thirty cups! All eight Grands, those who live across town and those who live an airplane ride away, eat it. And jam in tightly sealed plastic containers travels well inside a suitcase.
A day spent making jam is a day well spent. It isn’t just about good eating for my Grands – it’s also reliving happy memories.
Filed under: Food, Grandchildren |
Susan Writes 
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