Pick the berries.
Clean the berries.
Cut the berries.
Mash the berries.
Add gelatin.
Add lemon juice.
Heat.
Stir.
Stir.
Stir some more.
Add sugar.
Stir some more.
Remove heat.
Remove scum.
Stir some more.
Pour into jar.
Apply lid to jar.
Let cool.
You now have a jar of strawberry jam.
Time to repeat.
Saturday we went back to Hope House to visit the girls and work around the house. This week’s task? Making strawberry jam. 🙂
The process is long and tedious, but definitely fun — and delicious. Aimee and Carmen cleaned and cut the berries before beginning their work painting the roof in the chicken coop.
Jenny, Bethany, Kerry [the Hope House man], and I worked in the kitchen to make the jam. We made 46 jars in just a few hours which is more than 2 months worth of jam for Hope House.
Why make homemade jam? Two main reasons: 1) It teaches the girls responsibility 2) It is cost effective.
One jar of jam at the store costs around $5. With the intention of making 200 jars this week, Hope House will have $1000 worth of strawberry jam. Since the gelatin is donated and strawberries are homegrown, the start-up cost is pretty minimal.
Plus, homemade strawberry jam is so much better tasting than store-bought. 🙂
