When I am old, I think the taste of jam will always remind me of these summers with the kids. I started making jam the first year we moved to Boise because a group of us from church had gone berry picking and I had so many berries. Now my children and I are spoiled. Store bought jam just doesn't taste the same. You can't taste the sunshine and blue skies. You can't taste the fun of spending all day together in the kitchen.
This year I discovered why you don't add the pectin right away. Think strawberry fountain in the microwave! Oops. That's a mistake you only make once.
This year's jam is a little bit different. For the first time I had a helper all the way through. Jost and Kade washed and destemmed the strawberries for me. We had 2 whole flats and they did them all. I was so proud of them. It really helped me a lot and the whole process went faster.
We get our berries from a local, pesticide-free farm. You can pick your own, but we didn't do it for strawberries. We plan on picking our own blueberries as soon as they are ready. Our kitchen will be red, white, and blue by the time we finish! Truely an all American summer.
