strawberry jam.

Last week, on that really hot day we went strawberry picking. 

I always feel so overwhelmed when I first get to the field, I feel like I have to quickly pick as many berries as I can or I'll miss out. The plants were laden with big juicy red fruit, they were so sweet and delicious! Berries are definitely best when they're warm, straight off the plant.

We went to Ladybird Organics, a certified organic 'pick your own' farm in Keilor. You're allowed to eat as much as you like while picking, then you just pay for what you bring out in your bucket, for $12 a kilo. Very reasonable for organic strawberries!

We ended up leaving with 8.9kg, $107 worth!!! holy moly.

We made the jam at a beach house, so we didn't  have any scales which was a little annoying.. I think we used about 3 or 4 kilos of strawberries and about 2.5 kilos of sugar, and 3 squeezed lemons. We searched for a recipe on the internet and worked off about 3 sites... It was a lot of guess work and rough estimating, but I think we made a yummy jam in the end!

It's fun watching it bubble away on the stove in such a big pot, I like how there's a definite moment where it turns from a strawberry sauce to jam. 

Freya took care of sterilising the jars, Angelique quartered a huge bowl of strawberries, and Sanaga did a very good job mashing the berries before the sugar went in. 

I can't wait to give jars of homemade jam for christmas presents! 

We still have 2 big containers of berries in the freezer.. looks like we'll have to make ice-cream! Yum!

When I started the blog I had planned to write every second day or so.... But I'm finding it harder to sit down at the computer as often as that at the moment, especially before christmas! Maybe in January I will.. 

Only 6 sleeps till christmas!! 

x Zannah