Canning Cookbook- Canning Springtime

What do you look forward to every spring? Fresh asparagus? Beautiful spring flowers? Fresh berries of every color? Me too! All of it, every one of them and so much more. One of my favorite spring and early summer foods is the wonderful, juicy sweet strawberry. Strawberry farms do so well in Iowa, and I'm lucky enough to live near one.

Lots of strawberries means I need to find lots of ways to hang on to that juicy sweet memento so I have something to carry me through the cold winter months. Strawberry jam is always a favorite, and strawberries pair so well with other fruits too- like mangoes. I was lucky enough to find strawberries and mangoes ripe and ready at the same time, so you know what that means- time to make some jam!

Strawberry Mango Jam

3 cups sliced strawberries (measure them AFTER slicing of course)

2 mangoes, cut into dice- should be about 1 1/2 cups
zest of one orange, finely shredded

2 TB bottled lemon juice, NOT fresh

1 box powdered pectin

5 1/2 cups sugar

Combine the fruit, lemon juice and pectin in large pot. Bring to boiling, crushing the fruit. Add sugar all at once and stir to dissolve. Bring back to boiling, and boil hard for exactly one minute (just like almost every jam with pectin recipe you'll ever see).  Remove from heat, skim off any foam. Ladle into hot, sterile jars and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. You should get 6-8 half pints from this recipe.

This jam is soooo pretty in the jars, and so so so delicious. I'm sure you and your family will love it. 

*Note- if you do happen to find good deals on different fruits throughout the year, you CAN freeze them and use them to make jams later. I like to cut them up and freeze on cookie sheets until solid, then bag in freezer bags- easy to measure! Plus the cut-up fruits are handy for smoothies, ice cream, desserts, breakfast- whatever you like.