I Made a Batch of Strawberry Jam
June means that strawberry season has arrived in my area of the Northeast and it gives me great pleasure to jump right in and get busy making jam. Several years ago, when my television show was still being taped near my old home in Connecticut, we invited pastry chef and jam maker, Christine Ferber to the studio. Ferber, a fifth-generation pastry maker from the Alsace region of France, has won acclaim and awards for her baked goods, yet holds a particular passion for preserves. Dubbed 'Christine, Queen of Jams' by her peers, she loves the flavorful surprises she achieves through such unusual ingredient combinations as cherry with pinot noir, rhubarb with honey and rosemary, and rosehip and vanilla. That was when I was first introduced to her book on the subject, Mes Confitures and I have enjoyed many of her recipes ever since. I’ve also had the pleasure of visiting Ferber’s shop, Au Relais des Trois Epis, in Niedermorschwihr, a village in Alsace. While there, I sampled some of the most delicate, tender, and subtle confitures I’ve ever tasted, including incredible artisanal jams, such as Sicilian blood orange, Devon blackberry, Coriscan lemon marmalade, and Provençal apricot. When making jams and jellies, I always reach for my well-used copy of Mes Confitures.
1 I have always loved putting up jars of homemade jams, jellies, and preserves, especially when the fruit is my own.
2 Mid-June is the beginning of strawberry season here in the Northeast. I grow a variety known as everbearing, which produces a prolific yield of juicy, sweet berries.
3 I also grow a type of strawberry called fraises du bois - French for 'strawberries from the woods' - They are intensely flavorful and make a great garnish for salads and drinks.
4 A delicate fraises du bois flower
5 Shaun and Wilmer weeded the strawberry patch in preparation for a photo shoot.
6 All of the ripe berries were picked so that I could make jam before leaving on my journeys.
7 This book on making jams and jellies by Christine Ferber, has become a favorite of mine.
8 I rinsed the berries quickly in cold water and gently dried them in a towel. I then hulled them to remove their stems.
9 Christine Ferber writes that 'jam making is essentially preserving fruit with sugar.'
10 She goes on to say that 'for the best preservation effect, the jam should be sixty-five percent sugar.'
11 The strawberries macerate with the sugar and the juice of 1 lemon in the refrigerator overnight before continuing with the cooking part of the recipe.
12 Christine's method of jam making involves a step of separating out the already cooked fruit before boiling down the syrup, which helps to preserve the fruit's texture.
Martha, the strawberries look delicious!! One of my favorite jams would be strawberry, with blackberry and fig coming in after that. Then, there is apple butter.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria Herring | June 15th, 2011 at 2:09 am
Martha, the jam looks good wish I could taste it. Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | June 15th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Just heard on our local news this morning that strawberry season is over here is South Carolina, but peach season is coming into full swing. Will you make peach preserves, Martha?
Posted by: Judy | June 15th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Hi Martha,
I have never made jam or jelly but have always wanted to give it a try. I just have a feeling I’d botch the batch because I have a way of messing things up. Yours look so cute in those little Ball jars though. I never see that style jar in the stores but apparently they sell them somewhere. I’ll Google it.
~
I just read your tweet about the bridges in Seoul and want to say, try not to go too far ‘North’ wherever you go in Korea! No lol, not kidding. I hope the food is agreeing with you – I’m still trying to picture a 14 course meal. Trish
Posted by: Trish | June 15th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Hi Martha, What a delightful blog post today! Seeing you in photo #1 reminds me of your photos when you moved into that beautiful new home there in Bedford in 2005! You looked so great then and you do now, also! That strawberry jam must have been fun to make, especially with your new strawberries from your garden. Sure wish my strawberries would ripen, but it's been too cool and wet even now in June-just have to wait for warm weather to get here. What an interesting idea in your comment about photo #12. Does boiling the strawberry juice separately keep the foam from developing when cooking the strawberries with the juice? Sure sounds like a terrific idea! All of these photos are once again beautiful! Love seeing your tweets and twitpics about your trip to Seoul, Korea! Hope you have another wonderful day! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | June 15th, 2011 at 9:57 am
Martha, do you think the fruit jams could be prepared using Stevia, or something along those lines, instead of table sugar? Would love to try my hand at this, but I try not to consume and over abundance of sugar....always enjoy your blogs, always insprirational, educational, mind expanding, eye candy for the mind and soul!
Posted by: Debbie Wood | June 15th, 2011 at 11:58 am
I grow three varieties of alpine strawberries. I love it that the flavor is so intense that I only need to taste one to have the whole effect of eating strawberries.
Love the shape of those ball jars.
Posted by: jw | June 15th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Those finished Ball jars of jam look beautiful. So pretty. BTW, stevia in quanity tastes like licorice. Ugh. The trick for 'controlling sugar consumption' is to make a fine jam, and enjoy a moderate serving, not too much. But one always must lick the spoon !
Posted by: Penny | June 15th, 2011 at 2:51 pm
I made jam just last week, it tastes so so good. I did extra for gifts and we have fresh strawberry jam for until next year.. The strawberry you grow are excellent and makes a difference in taste.
Posted by: ga447 | June 15th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Martha - you inspired me to begin making jam about 15 years ago. I've been doing it ever since and my family loves getting jars of plum jam, blueberry jam, apple butter etc. at Christmas time.
I LOVE stories like this. More of them!
Over time I have become concerned about the amount of sugar too... I don't use much sugar anymore, but am not sure what to do about jam. I use much, much less than the recipe calls for and have never missed the sugar. I'm going to experiment this year with maybe date sugar or agave or stevia.
Posted by: stephanie | June 15th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
Hi Martha! Your strawberry jam looks delicious. It's one of my favorite jams next to guava jam. We also have strawberry in the Philippines but not as large as the ones grown in USA. I'm sure your strawberries are sweeter too. I wish I could have the chance to taste your strawberry jam. Best wishes to you...
Posted by: Lida Mauricio | June 16th, 2011 at 7:22 am
My grandmother has always made the best jellies and jams. I'm not a fan of strawberry and banana mixed together as a flavor, but she makes an absolutely delicious strawberry banana jelly. She also makes grape and peach, but she is best known for her cherry jam. The cherry is delicious and rare - she probably only makes one jar of cherry to a dozen of the other flavors. She still supplies the whole family, even though many of us live far away, and has even sent extra jars of peach jam for friends of mine who fell in love with it. I have gotten many of her recipes over the years, but I really need to get her jam recipes. Thanks for sharing the book - I'll have to look it up.
Posted by: Eileen | June 16th, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Hi Martha,
Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm! We have always canned our own jam but this year hope to make home-grown strawberry jam for the first time. I love your huge sugar canister; where can I purchase that?
Posted by: Maren Kreun | June 16th, 2011 at 11:42 pm
It's nice that you chose jams, especially strawberry and other fruit jams. The fruit to make these, are quite tasty, readily available and good for treating certain health conditions.
The display looks absolutely delicious.
Posted by: Niel | June 19th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Great posting, I always love reading about your life and projects. Question: Where do you get the orange plastic bins shown here and used in your kitchen in other posts? Would love to find some as well, thanks.
Posted by: Katherine | June 22nd, 2011 at 8:43 am
i love making my own jellies and jams i like strawberry freezer jam better than canning it what do you think
Posted by: sandy gravelle | June 26th, 2011 at 5:13 am
Cannot have a post in June without talking about juicy sweet tasting strawberries. Thanks Martha. Here's a fabulous recipe by Graham Kerr (Galloping Gourmet tv show of the 1970s)using strawberries: South Australian Strawberry Pie. I was one of Kerr's guests to sit at his tv dining table and share a wonderful meal. http://wp.me/pDQWN-Y9 Happy Birthday, Martha. Come back to Toronto, Ontario soon.
Posted by: may georgina delory | July 4th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
I feel exactly like you. Love making jams and preserves esp. fruits from our garden. I make plum Jam and pear jam that grow like crazy every year. This time someone at work gave us Concord Grapes. Made Jams out of them (though I had just made a batch 2 weeks before that!) and now that batch is still there with me. http://chefinyou.com/2011/10/concord-grapes-jam/. Seeing your strawberry Jam, I am craving for those. Might make some the minute this batch gets over!
Posted by: DK | November 28th, 2011 at 3:35 am