Strawberry Jams

This is the fourth and final batch of strawberry freezer jam for the winter.  It is slightly staggering to see how many jars we go through, but I know winter would feel a lot longer without them.  Strawberry season feels like a race, a race to pick and preserve enough before the season is over.  Often the season can be unpredictable, with the U-pick farms suddenly closed.  Happily this year the season started early, due to an early heat wave and then, thanks to plenty of rain and sunny heat, is continuing.  Now when I pick strawberries they can be eaten gluttonously without fears of running out of jam in January.

I have shared my Strawberry Freezer jam with Cointreau and Drambuie recipe here before, however I wanted to point it to new readers while reminding long time readers of how good it is.  If freezer space is limited I also have a Traditional no Pectin Strawberry Jam with Cointreau and Drambuie Recipe.  Both recipes are lower in sugar then what you will find in the grocery store.  Other then making you feel smug and condescending to people who eat the higher sugar variety, this gives the jams a truer strawberry flavor.

In between picking strawberries and making jam the boys and I went to the library to register for the summer reading program.  This is the first year both my boys are old enough to enroll, a milestone that I have been looking forward to.  Now both the boys will meet with a volunteer to talk about the books they have read.  This means I will not have to chase the youngest as he tries to play with the computer wires and rearrange all the books.  To celebrate the start of the program there was face painting at the library.  Sebastian has spent weeks planning what he would be.  When we walked home he grimaced at everyone we passed only to be disappointed that nobody freaked out.  Maybe they were trying to avert their eyes from the purple garden devil walking with him and his water devil brother.