Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
June 16, 2011
Two weeks into my summer vacation, I had a serious itch to make some strawberry jam. The problem was everywhere I looked the strawberries were either over-sized and under-flavored or ridiculously expensive. On a tip from a friend, I headed out Highway 12 just outside Sebastopol to Lao’s Strawberry Stand. It took three tries: first time he sold out, second time simply closed, but the third time is a charm. It was well worth the trouble. These strawberries bear very little resemblance to the strawberries sold year-round at the supermarket. They are super small, bright red all the way through, and absolutely bursting with flavor. They literally made me swoon. It is such a pleasure to take the time to put up food when it is the best quality. I was giddy with the thought that we would be able to enjoy these beautiful strawberries all winter.
The last few years, I have made strawberry rhubarb jam using low-sugar pectin and a standard process of heating the fruit and sugar to a boil, adding the pectin, and canning in sterile jars. It has always turned out good, but not great. Two problems I had were the strawberry and rhubarb both cooking down to a mushy pulp and the rhubarb turning a slightly greyish color. After reading Eugenia Bone’s method of slow roasting the fruit in a low oven, I had to try it.
