Strawberry jam

So I had a request for the recipe for the strawberry jam I made the other day. It's basically just the recipe from the pectin box, but I'll post it here anyway.
First of all... the ingredients(for 1 batch):
-1 box MCP premium fruit pectin
-3 qt. strawberries ( I bought 8 lbs, made 2 batches and had a fair amount of berries left)
-1/4 c lemon juice
-8 1/2 c sugar
-6 pt jars (plus one smaller container)
-lids/rings
-1 1/2 t margarine (or butter or spread)

Directions:
-Put lids in a small pan with enough water to cover them, and heat them (I put the stove onto 2)
-Wash jars and fill with hot water (as hot as you can get it) so they are warmed, and don't break when you put the jam in.
-Wash and cut strawberries. Discard stems. Put cut pieces into food processor (or blender). Chop until its the size of chunks you want in your jam. I prefer very very small chunks. You will need 5 3/4 c (very rounded) crushed strawberries. Put those into your pot. You will want at least a 6 qt pot, and that is a little on the small side.
-measure out sugar (I put it into a big bowl), get your small spoonful of margarine and set it on the counter, get your lids ready, and have towels out for the jars and pot once you're done cooking it. 
-After putting the strawberries in the pot, add the lemon juice and pectin and bring to a full rolling boil stirring constantly.
-Add sugar (gradually) stirring the whole time.
-Bring back to a rolling boil, put margarine in as you notice foam starting to show.
-Boil for 4 minutes.
-Pull jam off the stove, empty the jars of water (quickly) and put them all on the towels.
-Using a 2 cup measuring cup (my favorite size at least) stir the foam into the jam, and then use it to fill the jars.
-After filling each jar, wipe the rim, put on the lid and ring, and flip upside down.
-Once all jars are full and flipped, wait 10 minutes (while cleaning up?) and then flip them back the other way. This helps to distribute the fruit pieces throughout the jam. Let them sit until cooled. You will probably hear pops. This is normal, it is the jars sealing. Once they are cooled, check to make sure they all sealed. (tap the lids, you shouldn't be able to 'press in' the 'button') If they all sealed, they are ready for storage. If some didn't quite seal, don't worry, they're still usable, just stick them in your fridge, or give them to neighbors.

This recipe (the amount of sugar) will probably only work with that specific brand of pectin. The instructions will work with others, but if you buy a different brand of pectin, use their amounts.

And so it begins!

      Canning Season that is! I know, I know, most people probably consider it a little early for canning season. However, those of us that do not have a garden, (or anywhere to plant for that matter) must go with the sales at the supermarket. Strawberries were just on sale. That meant... Strawberry Jam! It was very new to me. I knew I wanted to make some, but I didn't know how to go about doing so. Well, I knew some of the things I would need (such as jars) so I did buy some of the things. Then I went online to search for recipes.
     Yeah, that didn't work so well. The recipes I could find were all convoluted, and confusing, and were not at all what I remember from my mom making jam. (Mom's jam was of course the best, so obviously I wanted it to be like hers) So, once I figured out that looking online wouldn't do any good at all, I called and asked Mom if she could help me. So this past Tuesday, Mom came over and helped me to make some strawberry jam. It was so much fun, and it was actually really easy. I was surprised. Out of 8 pounds of strawberries we got 11 jars of jam, and still had probably about 2 pounds of strawberries left. It was great fun.

So yeah, as I said, my canning season won't be most people's canning season. I will probably be mainly canning fruit, and maybe I'll freeze some corn. I'm planning on making raspberry jam, and pear jam (possibly peach/pear as well) and then hopefully I'll also can some peaches and pears. So yeah, the main problem I have to worry about is space. I don't know if I have enough to store all of this canning that I want to do. Oh well, we'll figure it out.

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