Strawberry Jam

Ok, I didn't make anything nearly as creative as this but last weekend 7-7-07 we took a trip to Fertile, MN for some strawberry pickin fun times. We drove and we drove and we were about to turn around and go home after an hour of nothing but fields when we finally got to Fertile. Man at the local gas and go said that the strawberry field were just out another 15 miles or so...Jaiden fell asleep on the way so once we got there Cody sat in the car with her and we took Jared out to pick some berries. After about 5 minutes he stepped on a thornbush and started whining so he stood at the end of the row while we picked our buckets full.

The strawberries were in their 3rd week and were at the peak of ripeness. Some were sadly over ripe and had to be passed up. The day was hot and sunny so I was really enjoying the event in spite of the kids not being into it. We had about 12 lbs of berries (which I didn't think was much) until I got home and started making jam...

This is my first time making freezer jam and I used the traditional Klein family recipe. It is quick, easy and oh so yummy! 4 c berries, 5 c sugar, 1 c Karo, 1 package Pectin = tastes fresh picked! It tends to be a bit runny, more like syrup but it is yummy on icecream...and since this is NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY what better topping could there be??? Ok, maybe a few chocolate shavings on top :)

P.S. Those two buckets of berries produced 25 pints of jam!