Strawberries have a lot in common with regret. And with the old adage, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
If ever there was such a thing as a fleeting moment, strawberry season in the Northwest truly is it. The first local strawberries seem to appear in early June and by the end of the month, they’re nearly gone. If you want to get technical about it yes, there are ever-bearing varieties here, but the June bearers – the Puget Crimson, the Puget Reliance, the Rainiers – seem to make the most flavorful jam.
For a kid who grew up in California, strawberry season stretches from as early as late January nearly all the way to the fall, before starting again. It’s a luxury that we just don’t have this far north. You’ve got to pay attention to the calendar and the moment the strawberries come in, start tasting and making jam. Unlike last year, when I first started dabbling with jam, I only made strawberry once, and as a refrigerator jam to boot, not realizing what I’d be missing come January and February. This year, I was ready. Sort of.
Out of necessity, the first round was a refrigerator batch. Washington strawberries wait for no man. We’d skipped the shortcake the night before and a day later were already starting to go, and I wasn’t fully prepared with new lids and rings, so into the fridge it went.
Last weekend’s batch, made with Rainiers, well, that one I overcooked a bit. Whoops. I made the mistake of following the recipe to the T at the expense of watching what was really happening in the pan. Not unlike doing whatever your GPS tells you without paying attention to the road. You know people like that, right?
With both lemon juice and two, yes, two packets of pectin in that batch, well, that’s not to say it’s not delicious, but it’s more like strawberry lemonade, a very firm strawberry lemonade jam.
Knowing the moment was passing and that I wouldn’t have time this weekend for jamming, I stopped off at a midweek farmers market and kept my fingers crossed that the last few dry days would produce some good lookin’, good tasting berries. Youngquist Farms had some Puget Reliance berries on offer.
MORE: OREGON and WASHINGTON STRAWBERRY CULTIVARS
With Mrs. Wheelbarrow’s recipe on-screen, I prepped the berries, sugared them up, grated in the apple and let it mojinate overnight in the fridge. It’s a step that seems unnecessary around here, since the berries are so juicy, but it was 8 o’clock at night, and no jamming was gonna be happening that night.
The apple thing totally works. I think I knew this from previous attempts at jam, but it’s easy to get consumed with the edicts to follow the recipe absolutely to avoid any potential issues. If it says to use packaged pectin, then I use pectin. But using common sense and this recipe, I put up two delicious pints of strawberry jam that will keep us in a summer frame of mind in the doldrums of winter. Jump on those strawberries before the moment passes you by.
RECIPE: Just Right Strawberry Jam
