Julie Bove wrote:
....
> We made this when I was a kid but no window glass and we only made a small
> amount so ate it right away.

freezer jam starts with berries and sugar and
then added pectin mixed with lemon juice. i
would not want to ruin strawberries by cooking
them in the sun, but that is a matter of taste
and preferences.

back in the day when there wasn't easy
freezing i could see why this method would
be ok. i would add lemon juice to it to
make it even more acidic and to give it
more zip. i do that with freezer jam and
that is my third favorite way to eat them
(after fresh and fresh smashed for short-
cakes).

i've also smashed and frozen strawberries
to use for short-cakes in the middle of the
winter but the past few seasons haven't been
too good for production for me so i've not
had enough berries for both freezer jam and
to put some up for short-cakes.

i think freezing them whole would be
good too if you wanted to use them in
smoothies or other things where you don't
mind the texture of a thawed berry.

the heavy syrup method pulls enough moisture
out of the berry that freezing it doesn't make
that much difference in texture, plus the fact
that most of them are smashed anyways.


songbird

On Monday, July 9, 2018 at 6:21:22 PM UTC-10, songbird wrote:
>
> freezer jam starts with berries and sugar and
> then added pectin mixed with lemon juice. i
> would not want to ruin strawberries by cooking
> them in the sun, but that is a matter of taste
> and preferences.
>
> back in the day when there wasn't easy
> freezing i could see why this method would
> be ok. i would add lemon juice to it to
> make it even more acidic and to give it
> more zip. i do that with freezer jam and
> that is my third favorite way to eat them
> (after fresh and fresh smashed for short-
> cakes).
>
> i've also smashed and frozen strawberries
> to use for short-cakes in the middle of the
> winter but the past few seasons haven't been
> too good for production for me so i've not
> had enough berries for both freezer jam and
> to put some up for short-cakes.
>
> i think freezing them whole would be
> good too if you wanted to use them in
> smoothies or other things where you don't
> mind the texture of a thawed berry.
>
> the heavy syrup method pulls enough moisture
> out of the berry that freezing it doesn't make
> that much difference in texture, plus the fact
> that most of them are smashed anyways.
>
>
> songbird

I used to make the freezer jams back in the late 70's. It held a strange allure for me. I'd make biscuits or sponge cake to accompany the jam. Without the jam, I probably wouldn't have had so much experience making biscuits and cake.

We'd sit by the tiny table we had in our SF Bay area kitchen in the warm sun and have the jam. It was a most wonderful time. One time was especially memorable. My sister-in-law was talking about a mystery illness that was causing a co-worker to slowly waste away and the news of Three Mile Island was breaking on the radio. Evidently, we used to actually listen to the radio back in the day.

dsi1 wrote:
....
> I used to make the freezer jams back in the late 70's. It held a strange allure for me. I'd make biscuits or sponge cake to accompany the jam. Without the jam, I probably wouldn't have had so much experience making biscuits and cake.

nothing cooked captures the flavors/smell of the
fresh berries as well IMO. the extra lemon juice i
add makes it all very much what i am after in a
strawberry jam. sweet along with some tart zing.


> We'd sit by the tiny table we had in our SF Bay area kitchen in the warm sun and have the jam. It was a most wonderful time. One time was especially memorable. My sister-in-law was talking about a mystery illness that was causing a co-worker to slowly waste away and the news of Three Mile Island was breaking on the radio. Evidently, we used to actually listen to the radio back in the day.

my sister loves my jam so much we will send her
a few jars via the mail, but i told her this past
spring that she should get some fresh berries down
her way and use it as a fun project with the grand-
kids. it's not that hard to make and since it doesn't
involve hot cooking of the jam it's a good one for
the kids to know how to do it. but i'm not sure
they can get good strawberries where she is at in
the desert SW.

this past winter we made short-cakes using the
store bought strawberries that i consider worthless
and would never buy as they have so little flavor
or scent, but we take those and blend in some of
the freezer jam and it's acceptable if you're
desperate.


songbird

On 2018-07-10 8:05 AM, songbird wrote:
> dsi1 wrote: ...
>> I used to make the freezer jams back in the late 70's. It held a
>> strange allure for me. I'd make biscuits or sponge cake to
>> accompany the jam. Without the jam, I probably wouldn't have had so
>> much experience making biscuits and cake.
>
> nothing cooked captures the flavors/smell of the fresh berries as
> well IMO. the extra lemon juice i add makes it all very much what i
> am after in a strawberry jam. sweet along with some tart zing.

I agree. That is why I have little appreciation for berry pies. It seems
a waste to cook them when they are so much better fresh. I used to make
quite a bit of (cooked) strawberry jam but only tried the frozen jam a
few times. I have not made jam in years.



> this past winter we made short-cakes using the store bought
> strawberries that i consider worthless and would never buy as they
> have so little flavor or scent, but we take those and blend in some
> of the freezer jam and it's acceptable if you're desperate.

My mother used to freeze strawberries with sugar. Months later she would
take a bag out of the freezer and let it thaw and there would be a
lovely sweet strawberry sauce along with the berries and they were great
on meringue shells with ice cream or whipped cream.

songbird wrote:
>
> this past winter we made short-cakes using the
> store bought strawberries that i consider worthless
> and would never buy as they have so little flavor
> or scent, but we take those and blend in some of
> the freezer jam and it's acceptable if you're
> desperate.

The store bought frozen ones aren't so bad for shortcake but yet,
I rarely do that. Also...pound cake is good for that dessert
too, rather than the spongy cakes they sell in season just for
shortcakes.

I used two Twinkies one time and that wasn't too bad.

Dave Smith wrote:
> On 2018-07-10 8:05 AM, songbird wrote:
>> dsi1 wrote: ...
>>> I used to make the freezer jams back in the late 70's. It held a
>>> strange allure for me. I'd make biscuits or sponge cake to
>>> accompany the jam. Without the jam, I probably wouldn't have had so
>>> much experience making biscuits and cake.
>>
>> nothing cooked captures the flavors/smell of the fresh berries as
>> well IMO. the extra lemon juice i add makes it all very much what i
>> am after in a strawberry jam. sweet along with some tart zing.
>
> I agree. That is why I have little appreciation for berry pies. It seems
> a waste to cook them when they are so much better fresh. I used to make
> quite a bit of (cooked) strawberry jam but only tried the frozen jam a
> few times. I have not made jam in years.

we don't make baked pies of any kind. i can't even
remember the last one we made. oh, yeah, it was a frozen
pumpkin pie someone gave us. neither of us much likes
pie crusts.

instead we make fresh pies using a custard or treacle
filling that is cooled off before adding the berries so
they are still fresh and uncooked. it's in a graham
cracker crust or more often for me i don't have any
crust at all i just like the filling with some berries
in it.


>> this past winter we made short-cakes using the store bought
>> strawberries that i consider worthless and would never buy as they
>> have so little flavor or scent, but we take those and blend in some
>> of the freezer jam and it's acceptable if you're desperate.
>
> My mother used to freeze strawberries with sugar. Months later she would
> take a bag out of the freezer and let it thaw and there would be a
> lovely sweet strawberry sauce along with the berries and they were great
> on meringue shells with ice cream or whipped cream.

a few years ago when i had more berries i froze some in
sugar like that and they were good for shortcakes. i
bake my own biscuits/shortcakes. the next year i had
overripe berries that were starting to ferment. that
didn't go as well.


songbird

On Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 2:07:27 AM UTC-10, songbird wrote:
> dsi1 wrote:
> ...
> > I used to make the freezer jams back in the late 70's. It held a strange allure for me. I'd make biscuits or sponge cake to accompany the jam. Without the jam, I probably wouldn't have had so much experience making biscuits and cake.
>
> nothing cooked captures the flavors/smell of the
> fresh berries as well IMO. the extra lemon juice i
> add makes it all very much what i am after in a
> strawberry jam. sweet along with some tart zing.
>
>
> > We'd sit by the tiny table we had in our SF Bay area kitchen in the warm sun and have the jam. It was a most wonderful time. One time was especially memorable. My sister-in-law was talking about a mystery illness that was causing a co-worker to slowly waste away and the news of Three Mile Island was breaking on the radio. Evidently, we used to actually listen to the radio back in the day.
>
> my sister loves my jam so much we will send her
> a few jars via the mail, but i told her this past
> spring that she should get some fresh berries down
> her way and use it as a fun project with the grand-
> kids. it's not that hard to make and since it doesn't
> involve hot cooking of the jam it's a good one for
> the kids to know how to do it. but i'm not sure
> they can get good strawberries where she is at in
> the desert SW.
>
> this past winter we made short-cakes using the
> store bought strawberries that i consider worthless
> and would never buy as they have so little flavor
> or scent, but we take those and blend in some of
> the freezer jam and it's acceptable if you're
> desperate.
>
>
> songbird

Homemade biscuits with freezer jam is so simple and basic and pure that it is elevated into a sublime level of human experience. I would add lemon juice too although that was to lower the pH so that the pectin would set properly.

On Tue, 10 Jul 2018 19:42:26 -0400, songbird >
wrote:

>Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2018-07-10 8:05 AM, songbird wrote:
>>> dsi1 wrote: ...
>>>> I used to make the freezer jams back in the late 70's. It held a
>>>> strange allure for me. I'd make biscuits or sponge cake to
>>>> accompany the jam. Without the jam, I probably wouldn't have had so
>>>> much experience making biscuits and cake.
>>>
>>> nothing cooked captures the flavors/smell of the fresh berries as
>>> well IMO. the extra lemon juice i add makes it all very much what i
>>> am after in a strawberry jam. sweet along with some tart zing.
>>
>> I agree. That is why I have little appreciation for berry pies. It seems
>> a waste to cook them when they are so much better fresh. I used to make
>> quite a bit of (cooked) strawberry jam but only tried the frozen jam a
>> few times. I have not made jam in years.
>
> we don't make baked pies of any kind. i can't even
>remember the last one we made. oh, yeah, it was a frozen
>pumpkin pie someone gave us. neither of us much likes
>pie crusts.
>
> instead we make fresh pies using a custard or treacle
>filling that is cooled off before adding the berries so
>they are still fresh and uncooked. it's in a graham
>cracker crust or more often for me i don't have any
>crust at all i just like the filling with some berries
>in it.
>
>
>>> this past winter we made short-cakes using the store bought
>>> strawberries that i consider worthless and would never buy as they
>>> have so little flavor or scent, but we take those and blend in some
>>> of the freezer jam and it's acceptable if you're desperate.
>>
>> My mother used to freeze strawberries with sugar. Months later she would
>> take a bag out of the freezer and let it thaw and there would be a
>> lovely sweet strawberry sauce along with the berries and they were great
>> on meringue shells with ice cream or whipped cream.
>
> a few years ago when i had more berries i froze some in
>sugar like that and they were good for shortcakes. i
>bake my own biscuits/shortcakes. the next year i had
>overripe berries that were starting to ferment. that
>didn't go as well.
>
> songbird

Could have made wine.