Jam Candy

 

 Well.........I made some strawberry jam today, or...... I tried to make some.  These labels should say Strawberry Candy!

 

 

Here's what happened.....The recipe from the Ball Blue Book called for two quarts of strawberries, mashed up, then add 6 cups of sugar.  Boil that till it gels.  That isn't something I understand---maybe if I had been canning for a long time I would understand it.   Sooooooo, I boiled it till it lightly coated a spoon.  Well, I don't think that's what it meant, because it was suppose to make 2 quarts, and it only made a little more than half of that.  I did the boiling water bath on four of them, and put the fifth one in the fridge.

 When hubs came home I asked him if he wanted to taste it.  I could barely get a spoonful out of the jar---it was like candy--it stretched a long way when I finally did get some out.  Here are the pictures of the process.  (I need a medium sized pot, but I didn't want it to boil over.)

 

I was ready to fill 8 jelly jars, but only used 5. 

 

 

Here's the water bath part.



 

 

And the finished product.

I used to make grape jam all the time, but it called for pectin and you had to add water if  too much of it boiled away-----it always made the right amount, with the right consistency----Oh well.

I'm planning on making some salsa, and some apple butter.  I think I'll do a little research on the web first.  That Blue Book is not for amatures.

 

I took the rest of the jam in that jar, and added a little water and boiled it, then poured it back into the jar.  I suppose I'll have to do that each time I open a jar.