Fruity patootie
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I’m a sucker for a strawberry. I inhale them through the summer and I spend the rest of the year pining for these adorable ruby red berries to come back into my life. Thankfully, we’ve gotten over our period of imported berries and the ones appearing are Queensland-grown, so whilst we may not be in winter, I can still start enjoying my favourite jewels!
I have done almost everything I can with strawberries - made tarts, baked them into muffins and cakes, enjoyed them straight or in salads, dipped in chocolate or in cream…
In fact, if I think about it, the only thing I *haven’t* done with strawberries is to make ice cream, or jam.
Well, we can cross that latter one off the list now 
I’ve read PLENTY of recipes for strawberry jam over the years, so the basic formula has always been in my head - berries, sugar, lemon juice and if you’re a vanilla fiend like me, then a little vanilla as well! So the problem wasn’t that I didn’t think I could do it…I was just nervous as I’d never done it before!
However, after buying a few punnets of berries the other week and ending up being far too busy to do what I had initiaully planned for them, I checked the fridge about 4 days later and noticed that the berries were beginning to look a bit on the soft and not so tasty side. Hrmph!
Well, there went my strawberry genoese sponge idea! Which was rather saddening, as it is one of my favourite cakes, yet the issue was the ample store of berries that I had in my fridge that needed to be used up straight away! What to do, what to do? I sat at my kitchen bench, chin on the counter as I stared at the berries, feeling utterly flummoxed when I heard my brother remark from behind me “Aww heck, there’s no strawberry jam left!”
After hearing that, of course I had to come to the rescue! I decided to roll up my sleeves and give it a good ol’ go, and aren’t I glad that I did! Now I can’t wait till summer rolls around so I can go and buy ample amounts of fruit from farms and get my jammin’ mojo on!
Home-made Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
Roughly 3 cups strawberries - rinsed, dried and hulled
1/2 - 1 cup caster sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
3 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 vanilla pod
1. Split vanilla bean in half and scrape out the seeds, adding them to the caster sugar. Add lemon juice, strawberries and sugar to a medium-sized pot and give it a quick stir, then turn on your stove-top to medium heat. Place a saucer in the freezer.
2. Cook the berries for about 20-30mins, giving the pot an occasional stir so they don’t boil over, and making sure to skim the froth from the top. Once the berries have softened and the liquid has thickened, remove the saucer from the freezer and put a dab of jam on the back - if it forms a skin and ‘jellies up’, then immediately turn off the heat and store in a sterilized jar (or, if you have no jam jars, then a tupperware container in the freezer). If it slides straight down the back of the saucer then it’s not thick enough yet so put the saucer back in the freezer and leave it for another 5-10 minutes before trying the saucer trick again.
3. Enjoy said jam on a slice of toast, or…as the filling for a genoese sponge (as per my next post!)
Also, thank you to those who left comments letting me know that you’d be interested in my point-and-shoot camera users guide 
I’ve decided to go ahead with it, and as Cindy left a specific request, that is where we’ll begin! Be sure to come back in a few days for my guide to “How to manage white balance”
I also plan on covering:
- On-camera flash - yay or nay?
- How to manage the bright (or not) light - exposure and how to use it
- Focus, DoF and bokeh
- Specifics - how to shoot in low, low light
- How to bring a dull photo back to life (using photo-editing software)
- Sharp, shiny and natural - managing highlights, lowlights and colours (using photo-editing software)
That’s all I can think of so far, but if you can think of anything else that you would like me to cover, then leave a message and let me know
Technorati Tags: recipes, strawberries, fruit, berries, jam
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Comments
Baking Soda Fingerlicking, lipsmacking pics! Yes, please do go ahead with your camera talk!
Melissa A. Yum! I plan on buying some local peaches this weekend to try my luck at peach jam, and maybe some canning! So far I’ve only helped my mom make jams and pickles, and a few weeks ago I made blueberry jam with my friend. It’s fun!
John Mundell Hi Ellie,
I really loved this post. Actually I bought local strawberries myself today and I agree, they are so yummy. Nearly sold them all so back to the shops again tomorrow.
PS: would you be so kind and tell me, how the technorati tags appear as hyperlinks at the end of your posts? Is it a plugin, or a widget and where can I get it?
Keep up your nice blog.
Cheers
John
lynn Your jam looks fabulous! I wish I could have that piece of bread for my breakfast. Congratulations on conquering jam making!
Ellie Cindy - Oh gawd, I would LOVE to get into some ice cream making, the only thing holding me back is the lack of an ice cream maker! I will get it hopefully by the end of the year, and first on my list will be home-made strawberry ice cream 
I’ve written the post up about white balance and it’ll go up tomorrow! I think I’ve covered everything but let me know if you think I missed anything
Baking Soda - Thanks hon
Melissa - Peach jam? I’m totally intrigued! And I absolutely cant wait till berry season comes back - I’d love to give blueberry jam a try
John - Thanks You can find the plugin somewhere on this page - http://codex.wordpress.org/Plugins/Technorati
Lynn - Thanks hon I can’t believe I avoided it for so long, but I can’t wait till summer comes around, I’m definitely gonna go a bit mad with the jam-making!
The Cooking Ninja I love home made strawberry jam. I’m going blackberry picking next week (if there is any left still) and try making blackberry jams.
Belinda Ellie, you did an absolutely beautiful job with the strawberry jam! Isn’t it just the most glorious shade of red?! You always jump right in and try different things, and I think that’s wonderful.
Susan from Food Blogga Oh, yes, Ellie, I agree, I never, ever tire of strawberries. And your jam looks luscious. I made some earlier this summer with rhubarb which was fabulous then some with blueberries with I really liked too.
ilingc Ellie, love the look of that jam of yours and with the toast.. mmm it’s . *wipes drool* oops. LOL
Ellie CookingNinja - Hope you were able to find your blackberries for your jam
Belinda - Hehehe, thanks hon While the jam is quite red, the photos weren’t..but that’s where the magic of digital comes into play 
Susan - Thanks hon I’ve definitely got some blueberry jam somewhere on my horizon!
I-Ling - LOL! Hope it didn’t get too messy Glad you like the photos!
Rokus Since you like strawberries this recipe seemed nice…
Fruity Freeze
12 oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, crushed
2 tubs (8 oz. each) philadelphia Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread
1 can (12 oz.) frozen raspberry juice concentrate
1 tub (8 oz.) cool whip Whipped Topping, thawed
Preparation
press crushed cookies onto bottom of 9-inch square pan lined with foil.
PLACE cream cheese and juice concentrate in blender or food processor container; cover. Blend on high speed until well blended. Pour into large bowl. Add whipped topping; stir with wire whisk until well blended. Pour over crust.
FREEZE 4 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving to soften slightly. Cut into squares to serve. Store leftover dessert in freezer.
That is some good-looking jam! If you ever get into icecream making, I can highly recommend strawberries for that too - so much better than that fake pink stuff in the supermarkets.
I’m looking forward to the camera talk - thanks for indulging me!