One of my favorite things about summer is all the fresh fruit that is available. I can be known to go a little crazy in the produce section — it’s so hard to resist because there are so many delicious options! But as tasty as grocery store produce can be, fresh-picked produ
ce is even better.
We didn’t have a chance to go strawberry picking this year, but we purchased a flat from an Amish farm, and I made strawberry jam. I used the same recipe as last year (click here to check out my Jun 25, 2018, post for the details) but adjusted the amounts slightly:
5 cups strawberry puree (pureed using a food processor)
5 Tbsp lemon juice
3 cups white sugar
It’s a pectin-free strawberry jam recipe, which I think tastes better, but the downside is that it takes longer to gel. I doubled the above amounts and spent 30-40 minutes stirring the jam on the stove before it was ready to can, but the end result was more than worth the time.
When blueberry season started, we got an invitation from a friend of a friend to go picking at their private farm. It was a last minute invite, and I had things to accomplish at home, so only Mr. Handsome went out and picked. It was about 90 degrees, so I wasn’t too upset to miss. Mr. Handsome brought back tons of plump, juicy berries.
Instead of washing them all right away and then putting them in the fridge, we put them in the fridge unwashed and brought them out to wash in small quantities. That extended their life, and we were able to enjoy them fresh for a week. We also froze a couple gallon-sized bags for smoothies and blueberry pie.
My creative husband took a handful of photos while he was picking and wanted me to share them with you:
