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Happy Family Times 13: Making Strawberry Jam


Have you done something fun and different with your family this week? Or did you dance in the living room together? Kelly over at Happy Whimsical Hearts and I are hosting a link party to share our happy family times. Please share below with us and visit everyone else to be inspired for more quality times with your family!


We have been visiting my parents at Cape Cod and it is strawberry season! My father's strawberry patch has been providing our dessert every night. The first day we arrived I think my father and Hazel were in the strawberry patch almost the entire day. Well let me correct that, my father was picking them and Hazel was sitting in her chair eating them. We had delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert that night as well.
Picking the strawberries

My mother has been making jam from the strawberries and we thought it would be fun for Hazel to experience making jam. So Hazel and I headed out this morning to pick the strawberries. My father was with us, but he was digging in his big vegetable garden. I have to admit I did most of the picking, but Hazel was very helpful at emptying my little bowl into her big bowl (she insisted on having the big bowl) and bringing them into my mother. I tried to do a good job of picking them pretty clean this time since there had been several that were rotting on the vine.
Hazel and Mimi hulling the strawberries

Inside my mother and Hazel were hulling the strawberries while I finished picking. When I came in I took over and my mother and Hazel began to sort of puree them with the food processor. I say sort of because you want there to be some chunks in it and not completely pureed. Hazel had fun pushing the pulse button on the food processor.
Using the food processor
We used low sugar pectin, sugar & strawberries
Once they had six cups of puree, they were ready to make a batch. Hazel put the puree in the pan. Mimi measured four cups of sugar and took a quarter cup out to mix with three tablespoons of pectin. She had Hazel mix this up in a small bowl. This was added to the puree in the pan and then brought to a hard boil. After the fruit reached a hard boil, Mimi added the rest of the sugar (four cups minus the quarter) and boiled it for a minute. Then she spooned the jam into the jars. She has a neat funnel for this that fits into the jar and measured a cup of jam for each one. One batch makes eight jars. While this was cooking she put hot water on the lids and kept them warm and also prepared the canning pan with hot water.
Hazel and Mimi stirring at the stove waiting for the hard boil.
Hard Boil
Filling jars with funnel
Then Mimi put the lids on and put them in the canner and boiled them for ten minutes. Then removed them. While she was doing this, I was hulling another batch of strawberries so we could make eight more jars. I picked around six quarts of strawberries this morning. I sliced the leftover ones and sprinkled some sugar so we could have strawberry shortcake for dessert at dinner as well.
Putting jars in canner
The Canner
The second batch we had a little extra and Mimi put it into a glass container with top and we were able to sample it on crackers while it was still warm. Hazel was very excited to try it and exclaimed she wanted to make jam again.
Sampling the Jam
We have had a wonderful trip to the Cape and a great visit with Mimi and Pop. What have you done this week?


Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)
~just crafts will be deleted since this is to share family times 
~ we'd love for you to follow us Crafty Moms Share and Happy Whimsical Hearts
~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas


Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

16 comments:

  1. How fun for Hazel to get to make jam with her grandma! Sounds like a very nice time. :)

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  2. Those strawberries and strawberry jam look delicious! How wonderful for Hazel to share the time making it with you and her Mimi!! Hope you are all having a wonderful break :-)

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  3. We love jam making! We just did about 40 quarts of blackberry a few weeks ago. So yummy!
    Sandy

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  4. Riley, my mom and I went strawberry picking this past weekend and I was wondering how to make jam. This is a perfect tutorial. This may seem like a silly question, but does the jam have to go into the canning jar or could I do it in mason jars? I'm sharing on my facebook page. Thanks so much for sharing at Whimsy Wednesdays.

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  5. Thanks for linking up with Kids in the Kitchen! we love making strawberry jam :)

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  6. How fun! This takes me back to when I was about 6 years old. My Grandma had a plum tree in her backyard. One day, the men & boy folks all went out with ladders to pick the plums, while the women & girl folks were in the kitchen turning them into jam. One of my FAVORITE memories!
    Thanks for sharing with my Super Link Party! :-)

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  7. And thanks for sharing at Happy lil ❤'s are baking x

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  8. I think it would be such fun to make some strawberry jam. We don't have a canner though.
    Would love for you to stop by Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen over at Tots and me and share this on my linky if you get a chance.
    http://totsandme.blogspot.com/2012/06/kids-and-mom-in-kitchen-apple-crisp.html
    Have a great day

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  9. My Little Chefs love to make jam with me! They love eating it knowing they did the hard work even more. I'd love for you to share at my new party Fantastic Thursday. http://www.fivelittlechefs.com/2012/06/fantastic-thursday-2.html Hope to see you there.

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  10. What fun! We are yet o have a go at jam making but it looks lovely!

    Thanks for sharing on Science Sparks

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  11. How wonderful! What a great family project!!! Thanks so much for sharing on the weekly Kids Co-Op link up!

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  12. Such wonderful memories! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!

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  13. You just may have given me the courage to try this, Carrie! I featured you on my Kid's Co-op post today!

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  14. I just made jam for the first time a couple of weeks ago! So much fun and yummy. I need a little funnel thingy like you have! Thanks for sharing at Saturday Dishes. Pinned to my Saturday Dishes board.
    ~ Paula

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  15. I just made jam for the first time! Thanks for sharing at Saturday Dishes ~ Paula

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  16. What a great way to spend time with your family! This jam looks delicious!

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I love to hear your comments and ideas. Thank you for reading and contributing!