Houzz apparently won't let me post more than one picture in the original post. Those berries are beauties, which did not cause me to hesitate to crush them up for jam, LOL.

It's a reduced sugar jam and I don't think it's going to set very firmly. I always have trouble with the low sugar spreads, either they turn to rubber or they remain a syrup. Ashley just dunks toast into a puddle of preserves on her plate, so she gets jam on every bite. Madison dumps it over her waffles and is happy anyway, so my family doesn't really care whether it sets up or not!

Annie

Strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, asparagus. I'm so jealous (or homesick?). This is when I miss the farm!

Sometimes I love big city living. Other times, not so much! I remember on the farm having so much that we couldn't use it all and couldn't give away the rest. I planted some rhubarb a couple years ago, otherwise, I'd be paying $4 for about 3 stalks!

Beautiful berries and jam, Annie! Wish I had more fruit growing. I haven't even put in a garden this year. I'll trade the goodies I preserve and bake for veggies.

I picked about a pint of black raspberries/blackberries yesterday. Really don't know exactly which they are. They are the size and shape of black raspberries, but someone told me they were blackberries. They do have larger seeds. Regardless, I'll use them as a juice in some kind of preserves. Noticed a bunch more ripened overnight. Naturally they are growing in the wood line alongside the chicken yard so yesterday I donned jeans, a long sleeved shirt and muck boots in 90+ weather to pick a pint. I never said I was sane.

By the way, I have four 2 week old chicks, two sired by a large black Orpington and two sired by a blue Orpington and four 2 months old RIRs. I had a broody hen so a friend gave me fertile eggs from his girls and my hen hatched them. Think I'll do that again the next time a hen goes broody. Lots of eggs from my laying hens for cooking and baking.

Madonna

Some of the most enjoyable decision-making starts with a flat of strawberries, Annie. Def go back and get some more. I got some from our farmers market with most of the stems still on. Was watching my DSIL "help" me make fruit salad for Father's Day; one for the bowl and one for him:) Like popcorn!

BTW, smart family -- I'd eat "unset" strawberry jam -- no qualms here!

CathyinSWPA

Annie,

Those are beautiful berries and yummy looking jam!

MJ

Wonderful looking berries, Annie!!!

Ours aren't out in full force yet, we've had a real dry spring, and a nice rain will speed things up. I'm looking for some to make freezer jam, and to eat of course!

Gorgeous berries, and I like Ashley's dunking method! DH and I both eat jams the same... lots and lots. : )

Sherri, today's picking is mizuna. I don't even know what to do with the stuff! I do love garden time, though. I used to live in a tiny little town and even that made me long for the farm. You can take the girl off the farm, but you can't get the farm out of the girl, apparently. At least you have enough room for some rhubarb, though!

Madonna, I have 16 Isa Brown pullets right now, about 10 weeks old. Elery says if we're feeding chickens they'd better be laying ALL YEAR LONG. He did hang a picture of Colonel Sanders inside the chicken coop to remind my current layers to just keep producing, LOL. The Isa Browns will lay about 300 eggs per year, about twice that of my heritage birds. I still like my mixed flock, though, all different kinds of chickens, makes it more interesting! It's sure fun to watch a mama hen raise those babies, and it's a lot easier for you too, so I think that's a very good choice. Grandma never would have anything except Rhode Island Reds, and she let the hens hatch our new layers, and we ate all the roosters while they were still young. Double bonus, I think.

And blackberries, you reminded me I ought to go check on those wild ones, out in the National Forest. They are tiny and seedy and take a long time to pick but they are so sweet and delicious, yum.

Cathy, you're right, I think I'll go get some more. My family definitely doesn't have a problem with syrup instead of jam, it goes on top of ice cream and pound cake, gets stirred into yogurt and, of course, it's just right for those waffles. Or for dipping toast. (grin)

Thanks, MJ. It's still pretty, but I just checked and it's still syrup. Ah well...

2many, Ashley could eat about half of one of those jars of jam with a couple of pieces of toast and she'd be happy. I used to have to "cut her off", tell her she couldn't have any more toast and jam until she ate her eggs, or whatever. My Dad used to eat jam with a spoon, so I guess she came by it honestly. Now, I like jam, but not that much jam!

Jasdip, these berries were nice, but not as sweet as usual. The weather has been so strange, first cold and wet, then hot. Really hot, and no rain. Then cold and rainy again. It was in the 60s today and rainy, so I don't know what that'll do to the berries still in the fields. Something good, hopefully!

I guess I'd better be getting back for some more this week, before some weather thing happens and there aren't any more...

Annie

I've known some folks who will even dip ritz crackers in berry "syrup" (eyes averted):)

CathyinSWPA

Cathy, I don't know who would do such a thing. Today it was grape jelly on ONE Ritz cracker, a splurge, LOL.

Annie

Those are gorgeous. We just got our first picking of little day neutrals. The June bearers haven't come on yet. And only two of my garlic varieties are showing scapes. First picking will be this afternoon.

I don't do well with pectin...the old fashioned preserves that sit a day in their syrup to thicken is my go-to. Mistakes are easy to hide...preserves are supposed to be loose, right?

carrot sticks in peach yogurt ....oh man, the dog was jealous

bragu, one of our dogs would have liked the yogurt, the other would have simply "harrumphed" you, LOL.

KatieC, I generally do better with the old fashioned preserves too. Readinglady (I miss her a lot) tipped me on the trick of overnight maceration, then cooking a few minutes, then removing the fruit and cooking just the syrup until thick, then add the fruit back in. That way fragile fruits like peaches don't dissolve into mush, I still have pieces of fruit. Her pear preserves are my favorite, ever, yum.

Our strawberries are about at the end of the June bearers. I did plant two raised beds with strawberries, and I get one here and there, but hopefully next year I'll have my own. They are also the "everbearing" type, not June bearing, but hopefully a few berries at a time will be easier to deal with than a bunch all at once. Hopefully. Hopefully the kids will leave me any to make jam with at all, or I'll still be buying berries at the farm market! Lots of hope going on there, LOL.

Annie

Annie,

You are lucky your family likes the syrup. I also prefer lower sugar jams and I only use pectin when making rose petal jelly. When making jam with lower pectin fruits, such as strawberries, I peel two apples, place the apples skins in a spice bouquet bag and add the bag with the fruit while cooking the jam. No one has ever noticed an apple flavor and the jam has consistently jelled. I have also occasionally grated a small amount of the apple, finely chopped it and added during cooking. Again, no one (including myself) has ever noticed apple flavoring.

MJ

Grape jelly works too, Annie! Was just reading on a blog Dried Strawberry Candies (The Art of Doing Stuff) and thought of you:) Cut to the chase -- supposed to just like Twizzlers (which caught my attention:); alas, pinterest recipe shot down. She also has a paragraph about cauliflower that may resonate with you HA!

CathyinSWPA

We went to the market this morning on the sole journey to get strawberries. There were a few vendors and we bought a flat $18 which was cheaper than I was expecting, by quite a bit. I tasted one, and didn't think it was all that sweet bought I bought the flat anyway. They're red, which is the main thing. They're not as sweet, as you said, Annie, than other years.

I made freezer jam, and we'll plug away at the rest. If I need to, I'll freeze some.

mjocean, thanks for that tip. I used to add lemon and wrap the pith/peel/seeds in a cheesecloth bag, but Mother is allergic to lemons, so that's out now. I knew better when I used that pectin, but took the chance anyway because I knew the kids would eat it if it didn't turn out. I knew it was a gamble, and just did it anyway, and see where it got me.

LOL, Cathy, I cracked up reading that blog post about cauliflower being pizza crust, pancakes or chocolate syrup. Oh, and it is definitely not steak either, no matter how many pictures of a big ole' slab of cauliflower, grilled. I have, incidentally, dried strawberries and, like that blogger, was very underwhelmed. Even strawberry "leather" isn't like Twizzlers at all.

Jasdip, I have picked a couple from my new patch, just planted this year. They were better than the farmer's market berries, but still not as good as I expected. I think it was the cold spring. AT least, I'm blaming the weather....

Annie