Seeing all of this lovely produce during my travels in Central Pennsylvania sent me to the canning section at the local Martin's grocery store. I got an updated copy of the Ball Blue Book, the guide to canning any fruit or vegetable, plus some jam jars and a container of pectin. Those small, sweet strawberries I found at Way Fruit Market got trimmed and put in a large, heavy pot with pectin and sugar. The berries were so sweet I used half the amount of sugar called for. I heated a separate pot of water to sterilize the jars and lids and brought the strawberry mixture to a rolling boil. Hot preserves into hot jars, add two part lids and turn the jars upside down. I should have added more preserves to each jar...they have a bit of empty space after settling. But not bad for something I haven't done in years! I used 4 quarts of berries, the juice and zest of 1 lemon, 12 tablespoons of powdered pectin and 6 cups of sugar. The jars are already packed up for our return trip to Key West over the weekend. A bit of homemade strawberry preserves on my toast and in the girls pb and js will be a tasty reminder of a great trip north and time spent in my mom's kitchen.
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