All Things Strawberry

I'm so grateful today that my aunt went away for a long weekend and left her berry patch to me ~

~~ Brings back many memories~~

~we had a strawberry stand at the end of our lane, I think I started picking at about eight years old~

~many hours in the field, sometimes chatting more than picking (sorry, Lisa!), eating a few berries along the way... don't think I ever intentionally picked berries with white tips because I knew that Ivan would NOT be impressed~

~one year it rained every morning for 2 weeks right in the middle of berry season..the lesson my mom taught me that year was that if you say you're going to do a job, you do it. Even if you have to wear trash bags to keep dry~

~the excited feeling of being promoted to "working in the stand" instead of having to pick~

~itchy arms~

~early glow, red chief, sparkle...the varieties are still floating around in my head!~

~the race on a really good picking day to see if anyone could actually pick 100 quart. I think I did it once~

~~~~~~~~

I tried a new jam recipe...I did this one last year except I used 1 c. white sugar. In my quest to reduce sugar intake, I decided to try sucanat. It worked and tastes just as delicious!

Layer in food processor:

2 1/2 c. sliced berries

1/4 c. sucanat

1 1/2 Tbsp instant clear jel

Repeat

Let sit a few minutes for the sucanat to start dissolving...then pulse until it's mixed and it is the consistency that you like. This tastes like pureed fresh strawberries...yyyuuummm!

Put in containers and freeze.

This won't keep as long in the fridge as sure-jell recipes...probably because it doesn't have whatever is in sure-jell to preserve it. But it's less sugar and that's a good thing in my book!