I realize that most people who always make their own jam
make strawberry jam. I was raised on home made jams and
have a hard time appreciating commercial jams, and I have
trouble paying a small fortune for a small jar of jam. I had
tried strawberry jam at least a half dozen times in past. It
always set to a perfect texture, but it never tasted good.
So I gave up on strawberry jam, sticking to those that
always worked for me.

I think part of the problem was the berries. The last time I
tried, and the worst results, we had had several days of
rain and then a hot sunny day. The berries were huge, but
not really red and sweet.

The other day I had to pick up some strawberries for my
mother and she asked for one quart, and if they looked good,
two more for jam. When I stopped at one of the local stands
they berries did look great. After running my mother around
to appointments and shopping I picked up some Certo, stopped
at the neighbour's stand and bought two quarts of
strawberries that had just been picked. I got home, cleaned
and sterilized the jars, hulled and crushed the berries and
started the jam.

This time I used Certo powder instead of the liquid. It is a
little different process, with the powder going in with the
berries and bringing it to a boil before adding sugar,
unlike the liquid which goes into the jam after it has been
boiled. I also crushed the fruit more, no chunks at all.

The jam was a great success. From now on, I am going to be
a lot more discriminating about the strawberries I used for
jam, and I will forgo those nice chunks of fruit for a
finer, more flavourful texture.

On Sat, 02 Jul 2005 12:44:58 -0400, Dave Smith wrote:

> I realize that most people who always make their own jam
> make strawberry jam. I was raised on home made jams and
> have a hard time appreciating commercial jams, and I have
> trouble paying a small fortune for a small jar of jam. I had
> tried strawberry jam at least a half dozen times in past. It
> always set to a perfect texture, but it never tasted good.
> So I gave up on strawberry jam, sticking to those that
> always worked for me.

<snip>

Dave. have you ever tried making strawberry "freezer" jam? It has a
*very* fresh taste and is *very* easy to make. The recipe is included
with all the other recipes you get along with your packet of Certo.

sf wrote:

> Dave. have you ever tried making strawberry "freezer" jam? It has a
> *very* fresh taste and is *very* easy to make. The recipe is included
> with all the other recipes you get along with your packet of Certo.

I have had it but never made it. It does indeed have a very fresh taste to
it.