One of the things I love about living close to family is that we have ‘Sunday dinner’ most weeks at my mom’s house. It’s usually loud, crowded, loud, hilarious… did I mention loud? But always tons of fun unless someone, *cough* Kelsea *cough*, sparks some form of debate (usually about sports or politics) and then it can get really loud! At any rate, it’s always nice to get those who can make it together to enjoy a meal and catch up on life. Well, with Kelsea in Wyoming, one sibling away at college, and babies making their grand arrival it was a quiet meal this past week… just my family, one of the three brothers and my mom and step dad. After finishing and cleaning up dinner my mom walks up and places a box on the dining room table filled with 8, yes 8, quarts of strawberries… “We’re making jam.” Well ok!
The girls were thrilled to be able to help and between the four of us we were able to wash and prep all those strawberries surprisingly fast. Then mom took to the stove and before I knew it we had 20 pints of strawberry jam all ready for the freezer. Can’t complain about that, and it’s absolutely delicious and surprisingly easy to make!
You need to start with 4 cups of washed and diced strawberries, she just puts hers in her food processor because they prefer less ‘chunky’ jam.
Oh, and sorry about the iPhone pics… I wasn’t planning on making jam but when the opportunity presented itself I grabbed it. When the girls and I make this at home I’ll be sure to get some better ones.
🙂
Next, you’re going to take the strawberries, sugar, and crushed pineapple and bring them to a rolling boil. You’re going to let them boil for 15-20 minutes.
Then you remove the pot from the heat and add one large box of strawberry jello and stir it well (no chunks). The ladies got to help with this part too.
Finally you divide the jam into freezer safe containers (leaving room for expansion), make note of the date, and put them into the freezer immediately.
When you’re ready to use it you just take one from the freezer and put it into the fridge! Easy and delicious!
My mom also told me you can use the same base recipe with other fruit. She has successfully done it with peaches (use orange jello) and we’ve considered trying a few others.
Enjoy!
Danielle
Strawberry Freezer Jam
4 c. diced strawberries
1 lg (20 oz) can of crushed pineapple
6 c. sugar
1 lg box strawberry jello
1. Boil strawberries, sugar, and pineapple hard for 15-20 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, add jello and stir til smooth.
3. Divide into containers and put immediately into freezer.
*To use remove from freezer and place in refrigerator.