Friday, April 23, 2010

jammin'

And here I thought that the strawberry season was over...

This past Saturday when I went to one of my favorite fruit/veg stands, they had these strawberries...195 yen (about US$1.95) a basket!

The sign said, "perfect for jam!"...so I bought 2 baskets.

The berries were ripe, very ripe.

For strawberry jam, I use this recipe, the first time I tried the recipe I microwaved it as the directions said, but now I cook it on the stove.

This time I also squeezed some lemon juice onto the berries.

For the 2 baskets, I used 5 tablespoons of sugar and it was just the right sweetness.

So far, we've had some on plain yogurt.

And on pancakes using this recipe. This time I added some ground flax seed to the batter.

mmm!

14 comments:

Avo said...

Looks lovely... Another nifty thing to do with strwaberries is is apple-berry sauce. Basically applesauce with a large proportion of strawberries in it. Fast easy and delicious...
It has the added advantage of keeping as long as applesauce should, provided the canning steps are respected (boiling the jars, pouring paraffin on the tops). I used to make some every year when I lived in the country.

jalna said...

Wow, so cheap, and your jam looks great! After reading the recipe I had to google "punnet". Hahaha.

K and S said...

sounds delicious Alesa, though I haven't seen paraffin around here.

actually the first time I saw the recipe I had to google "punnet" too Jalna :p

Take care you two.
Kat

Avo said...

Well, the paraffin is only if you want to keep your preserves for extended periods of time in a non-refrigerated place (like a storm cellar or a basement).

If you get right down to it, you could just as easily use a thin layer of oil and pour it out when you're ready to use the jam.

If you're making small quantities, you can just keep your jars in the fridge for several weeks without using an air sealant. One of the tricks is is to seal your jars while the jam (or sauce) is still boiling hot, and then to flip the jar and let it cool that way. The bacteria in the air get mostly killed as they traverse the boiling semi liquid. It isn't enough for very long periods of time, but I've have had jams keep for well over a year using that trick and no paraffin. I don't know if they would have kept longer because usually the jam got eaten long before that.

genkitummy said...

that looks yummy and so fresh!

K and S said...

Thanks Alesa, I know how the paraffin is used, my mom always does this with her jams/jellies. I seal my jars by turning them over while they are hot.

Thanks Genki :)

Take care.
Kat

Leah said...

I stumbled upon your blog a bit ago and have been reading through quite a few of your entires, and I just wanted to drop in and say I really enjoy them. Your photos are especially lovely!

Shafa said...

hi. i love reading your blog. so much information regarding Japan. I always wanted to go to Japan. Oh...

Rowena said...

Ah...that's what the photos at Flickr were for. I haven't been able to get into bloglines for 12 hours! Good thing I can still remember most addresses by heart. ^-^ (i wonder if it had anything to do with the McAfee mess?)

K and S said...

Thank you Leah :) hope you will comment more in the future!

Thank you Sweetheart :) I hope you get a chance to visit Japan soon!

I can't get into bloglines too Rowena, I can read most of my blogroll from Google Reader and I also have my blogroll through Blogger (under the dashboard). What happened with McAfee?

Take care everyone.
Kat

Rowena said...

I have the majority of my subs in Bloglines (I like how you can bookmark a post to save and retrieve it easily. I can only "star" a post in google reader but if there are hundreds of posts in just one blog, I need to scroll through all of them to find it!). McAfee sent out a bum antivirus update. MotH said 5 pcs (that were left on at his work place) were pretty messed up. Thank god we don't keep ours on overnight.

K and S said...

My "bookmarking" means to copy it into WORD :p Yipes that McAfee thingy is bad! Thanks for the heads up Rowena :)

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

An amazing price on those berries. The jam looks chunky and good--I love strawberry jam--especially my Mom's. ;-)

K and S said...

Thanks Debinhawaii, I think Mom's make the best things too :)

Take care.
Kat