Look at these berries!! If there has been one theme around our house during the past couple of weeks, it has been strawberries. Last week I hosted an Enrichment Activity over here where I did a demonstration of making freezer jam. Ahead of time I made several batches of jam using four different types of pectin--I have probably made 9 batches of jam so far (I can't commit to being done yet). At the activity the gals and I tested the four jams and discussed what we liked most about each recipe. It was fun to be able to compare the different flavors and textures. And, in case you are wondering, I think I am going to go for the reduced sugar recipe from now on--it's almost as tasty as the others AND so much better for you.
Also berry related, is my fantastic find of the century. There is a cute little strawberry stand that I go to (where to kids picked their own berries) which sells beautiful, plump berries for $30 a flat. THAT'S EXPENSIVE! The lady who runs the stand told me that they also have a packing facility that they send their berries to to be packaged for grocery stores, etc. She told me where it was hidden and said that I could buy their berries there for a little less money. I thought it was worth a try, and drove to a big white warehouse with no store front. I found an office and asked if I could buy strawberries. The man working in the office said, "yep, that will be $11" and brought out a flat of the same big, bright, beautiful berries. I couldn't believe my luck and had to resist running to my car to get out of there before he changed his mind.
The last berrilicious item--Strawberry picking. So simple, and so fun. My kids still talk about it as the best thing we did over Spring Break. For $6 each, they were given a bucket to fill with as many berries as they could pick. They had a blast. Though I'm not sure whether they ended up putting more berries in their mouths or in their buckets .