Strawberry Jam! YUM!

 It is strawberry season, which is a happy time in our household.  We all love fresh strawberries.  They are a staple to our evening meals.  This year I decided to try my hand at making strawberry jam, which is a favorite among the sandwich eaters among us.  While cleaning out my cupboard the other day I found this book, Canning for a New Generation.  I had completely forgotten about it.  When I first tried canning a few years ago I purchased it.  Unfortunately, I was pregnant at the time and NOTHING in it sounded good.  CRAZY!!!!!  Fortunately, I have recovered from whatever madness that was and I am now trying out some recipes.  Also, while researching safe BPA free jars, I discovered WECK.  These jars are beautiful, and I was anxious to try them out and see how they worked. 

 I bought 6 pounds of strawberries and tripled the Strawberry Jam recipe in the book.  Did I mention we LOVE strawberries?  I only bought so many because the price was right and they were organic.  Dicing them was a bit tiring, but I finally got it done.  I cooked my berries with sugar and lemon juice.  I left out the zest.  I have yet to really truly like zest in anything I make. 

 These are my cooked berries with the syrup drained off. 

 This is the syrup as I cook it down a bit.  Can I just say that the smell from my kitchen this day was glorious?  I was in a good mood, despite being tired of standing in the kitchen just because of the smell. 

 Everything was added back together and cooked a bit more.  I then put the jam in my new jars, added the seal, lid and clamp and put them in the water bath.  These jars sealed so easily and so well, and I didn't have to keep checking on the center.  After one hour, you try to lift off the lid.  It didn't budge, so I knew I had a seal. 

 I let them sit overnight and then labeled.  My only problem that day was depth perception.  I did not fill my jars as much as I should have.  I also had the jars the recipe said I needed, or at least thought I did and had to add another big one in the end.  That big one will be the first opened, because Big L, who has never been a fan of the store bought strawberry jam really loved this stuff, she wants to just eat it out of the jar.  Maybe I will finally get her to eat a sun butter and jam sandwich!