Strawberry Jam — Putting Up Summer Before It Slips Away

The peaches came this week from the farm in Shelburne that has the south-facing hillside orchard. Vermont peaches are a minor miracle — the season is short, maybe three weeks, and they are not the large perfect peaches of Georgia or South Carolina, but they are intensely flavored in the way that cold-climate fruit is, where the tree works harder and the sugar concentrates. I bought a half bushel on Wednesday. We ate some fresh, standing at the counter, over the sink, in the proper manner for a ripe peach. The rest went into the canning pot.

Peach preserves: the simplest possible thing. Peeled peaches, halved and pitted, packed into hot jars with a light syrup. That is all. Nothing added to the fruit because nothing needs to be added to the fruit. Helen does the sealing and the water bath. I do the peeling, which requires blanching the peaches for thirty seconds in boiling water, which makes the skins slip off cleanly. By the end of the afternoon there were twelve jars of peaches on the counter, orange and glowing in the late light coming through the kitchen window. Helen said they look beautiful. They do look beautiful. Some things deserve to be said aloud.

Ben started kindergarten Monday. Sarah called Sunday night to say he had picked out his clothes three days in advance and had been unable to sleep Saturday night with the combined anxiety and excitement that five-year-olds bring to new things. She said she was holding up fine. She said it in the way mothers say they are holding up fine. I said she would be fine. Helen got on the phone and said the same thing with more warmth and fewer words of qualification, which is Helen's way, and which is exactly what Sarah needed to hear.

August is almost done. September will arrive and the garden will finish its last production and Vermont will begin its preparation for what comes next. This is the order of things. I do not argue with it.

The peach jars were barely cool on the counter before Helen and I started talking about what else needed putting up before the season closed. Strawberry jam had been on the list since June and somehow kept getting deferred — and standing there in the kitchen with twelve glowing jars of peaches as proof that the work is worth doing, it seemed exactly the right moment to share the jam recipe we return to every year. It is the same philosophy as the peaches: good fruit, simple process, nothing added that does not need to be there.

Strawberry Jam

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 64 (makes about 8 half-pint jars)

Ingredients

• 8 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and crushed (about 4 pounds whole berries)
• 6 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 package (1.75 oz) powdered fruit pectin
• 1/2 teaspoon butter (optional, to reduce foaming)

Instructions

1. Prepare jars. Wash 8 half-pint canning jars, lids, and bands in hot soapy water. Keep jars hot until ready to fill by placing them in a water bath canner filled with simmering water.
2. Crush berries. Hull and crush strawberries one layer at a time using a potato masher or fork. Measure exactly 4 cups crushed berries into a large, heavy-bottomed saucepot.
3. Add pectin. Stir in lemon juice and powdered pectin. Add butter if using. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly.
4. Add sugar. Add all the sugar at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard for exactly 1 minute, then remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
5. Fill jars. Ladle hot jam into prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims clean with a damp cloth. Center lids on jars and apply bands until fingertip-tight.
6. Process in water bath. Place filled jars in canner rack and lower into boiling water, ensuring jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water. Process for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude if needed.
7. Cool and check seals. Remove jars and set upright on a towel. Let cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Check that each lid has sealed (the center should not flex up and down). Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after opening.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 80 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 20g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 0mg