Strawberry Freezer Jam -- The Thing About Saving What’s Good While It Lasts

A week after Tyler met Crystal and the world has continued in its ordinary way, which is what worlds do. You have a significant thing happen and the next morning you go to work and the toddlers need their lunch cut into small pieces and the routines continue and you carry the significant thing alongside the ordinary things and that is just how it goes.

I have been on a late-summer cooking binge: slow-roasted tomatoes going in every oven batch I can manage before the season ends, a big batch of roasted eggplant and red pepper dip that I have been eating on everything, a tomatillo salsa verde made with charred tomatillos and serrano peppers that is the best salsa I have made to date. Tyler took a jar of the salsa verde home and texted me the next day that it was gone. I asked if he had eaten the whole jar in one evening. He said yes. I said that is a compliment and he said he knew.

Crystal and I have been texting at our usual rhythm. This week she sent a photo of another thing she cooked: a simple pasta with olive oil and garlic and a handful of parsley, and she said: I remembered you said this one helped you breathe once. She was right. I said I had made it a hundred times since. She said: it works, you were right. She said: you taught me something. I did not know what to say to that exactly. I typed: you are welcome, and then I erased it and typed: I am glad it helped.

All week I have been thinking about the impulse to preserve — to put good things in jars before the season turns. The salsa verde I made for Tyler, the slow-roasted tomatoes I keep running in batches, and now this strawberry freezer jam, which I started making because I cannot stop myself from trying to hold onto summer just a little longer. It is the easiest thing, no canning equipment required, just fruit and sugar and time, and the result is something bright and alive that tastes like the season did not have to end. I have been sending jars to people. It feels like the right thing to do.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes + 24 hours set time | Servings: About 5 cups (five 8-oz jars)

Ingredients

• 2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled (about 4 cups crushed)
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 package (1.75 oz) powdered fruit pectin
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Crush the berries. Rinse and hull the strawberries, then mash them thoroughly in a large bowl using a potato masher or fork. You want some texture remaining — not a smooth puree. Measure out exactly 2 cups of crushed berries.
2. Stir in the sugar. Add the granulated sugar and lemon juice to the crushed strawberries and stir well to combine. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar begins to dissolve.
3. Cook the pectin. In a small saucepan, whisk the powdered pectin into the water. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil hard for exactly 1 minute, then remove from heat.
4. Combine. Pour the hot pectin mixture into the strawberry-sugar mixture and stir vigorously for 3 minutes. The sugar should be fully dissolved and the mixture should look slightly thickened and glossy.
5. Jar and rest. Ladle the jam into clean freezer-safe jars or containers, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace at the top. Seal with lids and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours to fully set before transferring to the freezer.
6. Store. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Nutrition (per serving, about 1 tablespoon)

Calories: 45 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 12g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 0mg