A new (to me) recipe

Hello, everyone.

After making plum butter the other day--well, it came out stiff like jam, but it's plum--I got inspired to try out a strawberry jam recipe on the internet. The lady claimed that her recipe, which only called for 2 pounds of strawberries, would make "6 cups" of jam. Strawberries were on sale at the store, so I got a 2 pound package and the other ingredient I didn't have already, and got down the canning stuff and got started.

Jars ready to sterilize in the canner

sliced strawberries, sugar, a splash of vinegar, and vanilla

I cooked the fruit mixture until the jelly thermometer said 220F, put it into the sterile jars, and processed it in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. All two of the jars.

The two jars on the right was all I got from the deal

Apparently the lady who put the recipe up thinks that 4 ounce little jars are "cups." The jars you see here are 12 ounce jars. I estimate that the yield of the recipe gave me an actual 5 and a half tiny jars' worth of jam.

I don't think I want to do this again. It's really kind of disappointing.

When I used 4 pounds of sliced plums, I got a little more than 4 of these tall jars. Well, actually 3 of the 12 ounce ones and 2 8 ounce ones.

Of course, I was aiming for "butter" but forgot to put little plates in the fridge to test for viscosity. So used the jelly thermometer...which doesn't have a temp specifying "butter" to use. It goes straight from "scald milk" at 150 to "jelly" at 220. And "jelly" gives a stiff result.

Got to remember to put those plates in the freezer next time. DH really likes "butter" on his ice cream. He says that jelly just isn't the same. The butters are less viscous, softer and closer to a liquid. He doesn't have to smash them down onto the ice cream to get them to spread out.

Got to remember the little plates. And got to use either more fruit or a different fruit next time!