Hopefully, this year strawberry season won't last three days, but I wasn't taking any chances. The fields opened two days ago and this is my first day not working since then. There was a thunderstorm coming the afternoon so I made a plan to go early this morning and get enough strawberries for all my needs - we've been out of strawberry jam for a while.
First batch was strawberries, sugar, and a little vanilla paste. This made eight cups. I've stopped adding pectin to my jams whenever possible so it means a slightly lower yield per batch.
Second batch was strawberry rhubarb. I had two cups of rhubarb in the freezer, which I let sit with four cups of sugar for an hour to macerate, and then added seven cups of halved strawberries and 1/4 cup lemon juice. This made six cups.
I have set aside strawberries sliced and mixed with sugar to make strawberry shortcake tonight, and another quart of berries for strawberry soup for dinner. That still leaves about three quarts of berries left for... another project, maybe?
