Strawberry Freezer Jam

You might think that it's a little bit late in the season for strawberries.  Well, think again:

These gorgeous little gems come from Quebec's renowned Ile d'Orléans, an island located in the Saint Lawrence river, mere miles from Quebec City.  I spied these beauties at my local grocery store and could not resist.  The flavour is very concentrated, and they're not watered-down like some of the spring fruit we traditionally get.  It was also high-time I used that package of freezer jam pectin I've had wedged in the back of the pantry for years now.

Observe:

Meh.  Use before November 09.  Well, that's still within my comfort zone.  Remember I'm time-challenged?  I checked on Bernardin's website, and the packaging has been revamped (probably twice since then), so if you're looking for this pouch, be forewarned it now looks different:

Why make freezer jam?  Well, several reasons.  It's no fuss, no muss.  Just mash strawberries until you have 4 cups, add 1-1/2 cups of granulated sugar to the pectin, mix together until well-combined, then add crushed strawberries and stir for 3 minutes.  No need to sterilize jars and no need to cook the mixture.  Why lose all that colour, flavour and those wonderful antioxidants? I really hate to see people spend more time and energy on something that should be this simple.  It also produces a superior tasting jam, and that should be reason enough to keep the stove turned off.

Part of the reason I generally avoid jam is the high sugar-to-fruit ratio.  Using 1-1/2 cups of sugar to 4 cups of fruit doesn't seem that evil to me.  I wouldn't eat this stuff for breakfast every day, but spread on waffles or thin pancakes, it's a thing of beauty.

Cracking open a jar of this strawberry jam in the middle of winter can keep a person from going insane.  It's like a little ray of sunshine during a long, cold season.

If that's all it takes, well then, sign me up:

The recipe makes 5 - 250mL jars.  You can use any type of container to freeze this jam - you don't have to use traditional canning jars like I did.  I used them because they were in the kitchen from my mango chutney episode, but little Rubbermaid or Tupperware-style plastic containers will do the trick.

I use it straight from the freezer.  I just slice out what I need, and it melts in seconds when put on hot crepes or toast or waffles.  Because I'm an infrequent jam-user, my strawberry jam stays much fresher this way.

So if you've never tried this method of jam-making, I hope I've convinced you to try it.

Just don't keep your pouch of freezer pectin on the shelf for 5 years like I did.

Crabapple Jelly

The crab apple tree in front of the house is full of fruit this year.  I've been kicking the ones that fall off the tree down the slate walk for a couple of weeks already.  It was high time I did something with them, because it's been a good year.  Some years end up being so-so, but this year we had a bumper crop.  It would have been a shame to let them go to waste.

Armed with a ladder, and wearing a pareo (because it was cloyingly hot) and sandals with 3" heels, ('cause those were beside the front door and didn't involve laces), I'm sure I was a sight to behold.  Something like "The Housewives of Beverly Hills" meets "Green Acres", starring yours truly.  I picked about 3 kg of crab apples.  That ended up being a whole lot of crab apples to quarter and stem.  Since we don't spray our fruit trees, the crab apples are imperfect, and I tried to be as diligent as possible in cutting out any softened or bug-infested parts.  (That's also my way of saying there could have been a worm or two in the pot.  I'm sure the heat killed them).

3 kilos is a lot of crab apples:

They're barely bigger than cherries!  Here I am, my hands wrinkled from the water, holding three of the largest specimens.  I'm nearing the end of my batch, wondering if it will ever end.   When I checked for a recipe on-line, my first go-to site for canning is always the Bernardin website.  It says 2.5 kg of crab apples are about 56.  I don't know if those come from Three Mile Island, but I must have picked closer to 256 to make that amount.

Once quartered, stemmed and with the bloom removed, I added 5 cups of water to the pot.  In retrospect, I should have added more:

I let this mixture boil for about 10 minutes, and then simmered it for about 10 minutes more, stirring it frequently to prevent scorching.  The apples broke down a lot.  Some recipes say to use a potato masher to break down the fruit further, but I didn't find it necessary.

I lined a colander with a clean muslin cloth, and dumped the whole mixture in.  I think I ended up with about 4 cups of juice the next morning, because I needed to add about 1 cup of water to make the 5 cups of juice necessary to make the jelly.  Another Canadian Living recipe said I could, okay?  I added 7 cups of sugar, and one pack of liquid pectin, following the instructions that came in the Certo box.  (And can you tell I'm making all of this up as I go along?)  Flying by the seat of my pareo is my specialty.

On the CL website, someone commented to use slightly under-ripe apples, as these contained more pectin  but less water.  This might have accounted for me having to add a bit of water to make up the difference.  I did some google-fu and couldn't corroborate this information, but I'm running with it anyhow.

In the end, I made 8 - 250 mL (half pint) jars of pretty pink crab apple jelly:

It's nice to be able to create something with a bit lot of elbow grease and a bit lot of sugar, and some patience and time thrown into the mix.

I'm sure the pareo and heels didn't hurt, either.