The Tempest

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Lance Park Homemade is better, period.

A personal favorite of mine has always been home made strawberry jam. I've eaten it since I was a little kid, and to this day I can't eat store-bought jam or jelly; they just don't taste right to me. From the top secret part of the family recipes, I present this recipe for home-made strawberry jam.

Ingredients:
5 cups of crushed Strawberries
7 cups Sugar
1 package of Pectin
1 tablespoon Margarine
¼ cup Lemon Juice
1 large cooking pot
8 glass jars, preferably capable of holding 8 ounces at least

Now you're probably asking, "What the heck is Pectin?" Well, Pectin is a gelling agent used to make jam all jammy, and jelly jiggly. It's a clear/whiteish substance derived from fruits and you can find it in your average grocery store probably where they keep the instant puddings and such. The average package is approximately 1.75 ounces, and one will do fine.
Measure the strawberries out and put them in the pot. Add your pectin, lemon juice, and margarine, stir vigorously. Bring it to a full boil, then stir the sugar in and let it boil for a full minute, then turn off the stove.

Don't wait too long to start transferring it from the pot to the jars once you're done; as the jam cools, it'll go from nearly liquid to jam pretty quickly and once it hits jam-like consistency it'll be harder to get it into the jars.

As an alternative, you can substitute strawberries for apricots, but make sure to remove the apricot pits, and that the apricots are proper diced and sliced.

The jam tastes great after it cools, but it's absolutely amazing still warm, and you can practically spoon it over a piece of toast with relative ease.

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