We be Jammin'

So I walked in to my local Wally World the other day and lo and behold, strawberries were on sale for $1.10 a pound. Yeah, I know! It must have been a bumper crop this year. Of course I bought some. Some? More like 8 pounds worth!

They are gorgeous, no?

I thought, hey, I can make strawberry shortcake, or have strawberries on cereal, or better yet, I can make jam! Yes....jam....now, how do you make jam?
The last time I made jam, it was as a spectator when my mother made strawberry freezer jam last year. Before that I was a child in Nova Scotia and making Blueberry Jam with my grandmother. (I won't tell you how long ago THAT was!)

So this morning I woke with a stream of mojo and decided to get with it...

Once I took off the stems and washed them, I started to mash them up.


Now, I can't make regular jam because I do not own a canning pressurizer or even have a pot large enough to cover the jars and boil once filled with the red deliciousness.

So I made the next best thing- Freezer Jam. It takes less berries, but works just as well. And all you do after boiling your mash is put it into washed, rinsed and sanitized jars. (I boiled the empty jars in a large pot to sanitize since I do not own a dishwasher, either.)

Once the jars were sufficiently cleaned, I put the sugar and pectin in a pot, boiled it for 1 minute, removed it from the heat, added the berries, mixing well and poured 1 cup into each jar. I put the lids on to keep dirt particles out and the only thing I have left to do is let them sit on the counter for 24 hours before I add the bands and put them in the freezer.
It's that easy.

Personally, I think I did rather well with my lack of equipment. And the best part? I still have 4 pounds of strawberries left!
What should I do with those?