Friends, Farms and Fun!

Well it’s that time of year again…the berries are ripe so it’s time to make freezer jam! Normally I just buy some berries at Costco and make the jam but this year we did things a little different. The moms group from my church organized a trip to Raising Cain Ranch to pick organic raspberries with the kids. I’ve never picked berries before so I was really excited.

When we arrived the man explained that the you pick berries were $4 per pound and you were allowed to eat as many berries as you want while you picked! The kids were super excited about that!!

So away we went!! I strapped Bryson into the Baby Bjorn and Tay and got to picking!

We had an amazing time with all our friends. After we were done picking we found a spot on the grass and ate our picnic lunch.

When I got home I washed all our berries in a vinegar rinse, laid them out on a cookie sheet and flash froze them before I transferred them to a gallon sized freezer bag. If you want you can make the jam right away instead of freezing but I knew we had a jam making day planned a couple of weeks after the berry picking so I wanted to save the berries for that get together.

Today was that day and we had a fun time making jam together. I ended up with 6 containers of raspberry freezer jam.

Last week I also spent a morning with my husbands grandma and my sister in law making strawberry and raspberry jam. We had a wonderful time with her and I ended up with 15 containers of strawberry jam and an additional 4 containers of raspberry jam!

If you’ve never made freezer jam before it’s super easy! I always use the Sure Jell brand pectin so these are the recipes they include in the package of pectin.

Raspberry Freezer Jam:

3 cups prepared fruit (buy about 6 cups fully ripe red raspberries)

5-1/4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl

3/4 cup water

1 box SURE-JELL Fruit Pectin

CRUSH raspberries thoroughly. (Press half of pulp through a sieve to remove seeds, if desired.) Measure exactly 3 cups crushed raspberries into large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 min., stirring occasionally.

MIX water and pectin in small saucepan. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling and stirring 1 min. Add to fruit mixture; stir 3 min.or until sugar is almost dissolved and no longer grainy. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

FILL containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze extra containers up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using.

Strawberry Freezer Jam:

2 cups crushed strawberries (buy 1 qt. fully ripe strawberries)

4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl

3/4 cup water

1 pkg. SURE-JELL Fruit Pectin

CRUSH strawberries thoroughly. Measure exactly 2 cups prepared fruit into large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 min., stirring occasionally.

MIX water and pectin in small saucepan. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling and stirring 1 min. Add to fruit mixture; stir 3 min. or until most the sugar is dissolved. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

FILL containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or in freezer up to 1 year. (If frozen, thaw in refrigerator before using.)

Happy berry picking and jam making!