Adventures in Canning - STRAWBERRY JAM - (first and second attempts)

My Actual First Attempt at Canning, resulted in Strawberry sauce rather than jam. It was delicious, but I had a few issues with it:

1. More Sugar than fruit. I know the pectin needs the sugar to set up, but REALLY... The recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of crushed strawberries, and 3 1/2 cups of Sugar. All you could taste was strawberry flavoured sugar.
2. That was really my only problem with it. I should have bought more jars than the 4 that came with the caning kit, but that is totally my mistake.

So from my first attempt, I learned a lot, and got a pretty yummy strawberry sauce (that was incredible on ice cream)




While I was home, my mom and I attempted making Strawberry Jam for a 2nd time:




The 2nd Attempt was sooooo much better. We used the no sugar needed Pectin, Which calls for 1 cup of unsweetened Apple Juice. To keep on the home-made theme, We pulled out my mom's pain-in-the-ass-to-clean Juicer and used Fresh Apple juice straight from the source in our jam, as well as one grated apple to up the pectin content in the jam.

This time, it was actually jam!!!! and omg it is delicious. I don't know if I will buy jam at a store ever again.

The Farmers market is about to start up here again, There is finally no snow (although it has rained for a week straight), and the grass seemed to turn green over night, the trees have leaves and I can finally put my tomato plants outside. I planted Zucchini in the ground, and My Rhubarb plant has already taken over the flower bed. The break from Winter is finally here!!!
And the Miracle of No Snow on May Long weekend happened... I can't really remember a May Long where it didn't snow, so it really is a miracle...

Also, I found some Raw cashews, so in the next few days, I'm going to try this recipe from Joy the Baker

Enjoy the sunshine/break in the rain if you can, before we know it, it will be winter again. Soak it up while its here