Skagit June

The Berries begin their season so Dum Luk's is a jam session.
Set the containers to boil.
Top and slice a quart of field fresh berries into a wide pot.
Add one cup of sugar and heat, stirring.
Bring to a boil and seethe for three minutes.
Add a half cup of sugar and stir as it boils for another three minutes.
Add a half cup of sugar and stir as it bubbles away for another three minutes. Sometime during that three minutes, or shortly after, it will be done. Test it by dripping off a spoon (see any basic cookbook for illustration) or by dripping onto a saucer that has been kept in the freezer. This cools the syrup rapidly enough to show how thick it will be.
Fill your jars and seal. Makes about 24 oz. of jam.
Note that no pectin is used. The commercial operations like pectin because it is quicker and gives you more jam per quart of berries. But it dilutes the strawberry taste. Once tasted you will accept the greater cost as worth it.
Also there is a third less sugar in this version than in "Sally's Strawberry or Raspberry Jam" in Fannie Farmer which is my original model. You can vary the sugar to suit your taste and the berries. But considering how over the moon American's are about sugar, less works for me. Maybe for you to?
Once cool you can transfer the jam to a plastic bag via a vaccuum sealer for shipment to far flung relatives at far less weight. Use a sturdy corrugated box.
This recipe works for any berry you like jammed.
--ml

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