Our Original Strawberry Lemonade Jam

     Summer time in central Florida is nothing to joke about. Mornings are steamy -- some days the humidity is so high that the air itself looks hazy. Afternoons are unbearably hot. Evenings are beautiful but they are not for the faint of heart: the sunsets turn the air almost palpable shades of blue, green, and purple, but people outside are subject to swarms of hungry mosquitoes and other nibbling beasties. Nights are marked by singing cicadas and really are the only times that it’s pleasant to be outside.

     Floridians, though, are a hardy people who have mastered the art of staying as cool as possible, and we have a variety of tools to help us toward that goal. We use screened porches.  We use iced tea and ice cream. Swimming pools. Rocking chairs and cold beer. When we were kids, we lived in our bathing suits and existed on ice-pops and apples from the refrigerator.  We used to sit on our front lawns after the sun went down and drank strawberry lemonade, slapped at mosquitoes, and watched the stars come out.

     Sarah, inspired by a batch of strawberry jam she made last week, came up with an idea to try to turn the lemonade we drank as kids into jam.  After a night of smashing strawberries, zesting and juicing lemons, and trying not to trip over an over-excited puppy, we canned our very first batch of strawberry lemonade jam.

     This stuff is awesome. It tastes like summer in a jar and is pretty limitless in its potential. Eat it on ice cream on a hot night. Eat it on pound cake at your next family picnic. Pour it over freshly baked muffins. Save it for the winter when you need a pick-me-up after a long cold day. Or take the same approach Sarah’s boyfriend took and just eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon.

STRAWBERRY LEMONADE JAM 

(makes 1 pint)

Ingredients

- 1 pound of fresh strawberries

- Juice from 2 lemons

-Zest from 1 lemon

-1 ½ tsp. pectin

-1/4 c. sugar

Process

Hull and slice strawberries into a medium-sized saucepan and smash ‘em up. 

If you, like us, don’t have a blender or potato-masher, the bottom of a glass works really well. 

Add lemon juice and lemon zest. 

Cook fruit mixture over medium-high heat until it’s thoroughly heated and starts to bubble.

 Stir frequently so the fruit doesn’t burn!

Sprinkle pectin into the jam while stirring thoroughly. 

Bring the mixture to a rolling boil that can’t be stirred down, then reduce heat and add sugar. 

Bring mixture back to a boil for one minute, stirring constantly. 

Remove from heat and let it rest while you get your jars ready.

You can use one one-pint jar or two half-pint jars. 

In a perfect world, mason jars are boiled in water so they’re totally sterile. 

That way, canned food can last indefinitely. 

Sarah and I knew, though, that our jam wouldn’t last long so we just let ‘em be. 

Our grandmothers would be appalled. Do what you need to do here. 

Be efficient and boil your jars, or be lazy and leave ‘em alone.

Spoon the hot jam into jars, making sure you stir it thoroughly one last time.  

Place them on the counter or in the refrigerator to cool before sealing them. 

Once slightly cooled and sealed, place them in the fridge to set. 

How long your jam takes to set will depend on a number of variables like how juicy your berries were, 

what size jars you’re using, etc. 

Once the jam has set it’s ready for eating – try not to eat it all at once!

Enjoy it by the spoonfuls!

All our love,

Abby and Sarah