Strawberry Jam Forever

Alicia inspired me to make strawberry freezer jam. My mother-in-law used to make it and I remember how much I liked it so, I thought I'd give it a try.

After my trip to the grocery store to get strawberries (on sale for $9.99 for TWELVE pints), a five pound bag of sugar, two boxes of Sure-Jell pectin, and some new plastic containers, I set out on my adventure.

My first thought was: what in the hell am I going to do with TWELVE pints of strawberries? But...then I collected my senses and moved ahead.

One of the twelve pints of berries.

The recipe is simple to follow. But...may I suggest that you use a large mixing bowl [larger than you think you might need, okay]. Because I doubled the recipe that Alicia pointed me to and, lets just say the bowl was VERY full of berries and sugar and pectin syrup when I was done.

Fourteen cups of strawberry freezer jam.

The jam has to "sit" for twenty-four hours. Then it's ready to be refrigerated, frozen or ... eaten. I will be doing some of each. Guess what I'll be having for breakfast tomorrow? Yep: toast with strawberry jam. Yum.

Oh, and the rest of the berries? They are being used as (1) toppings for ice cream, (2) quartered and put in a bowl with lots of sugar on top. [And will later be put on top of short-cakes or biscuits.] And (3) some are just being washed and eaten, sort of like this:

Fresh berries and whipped cream.

UPDATE: Here's the link for the Strawberry Freezer Jam recipe from Kraft Foods.