The week ahead may look despairingly cold and miserable, but I’ll be damned if anyone says they didn’t have the best weekend ever, sitting outside and soaking up the sun.
I spent all weekend on my stoop. The whole thing. Sometimes with a book and sometimes with a friend and sometimes with jam (most times with jam.)
Strawberries always make me thing of summer, as does the sun shimmying its way through the blinds in the morning, and I woke up on Friday craving them desperately. An Italian market stock-up proved successful and I scored a box for $1! Jam time.
This recipe was adapted ever-so-slightly from an Alice Waters cookbook, who, for the sake of background, is the chef behind Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and pretty much the founder of the local food movement here in the states. While I can’t say that these strawberries came from anywhere near Philadelphia (or America, for that matter) I can say I wholly admire Alice Waters and her efforts at making eating an experience engaged far beyond the dinner table. I sort of aspire to be as passionate as she is about food.
Anyway, have you ever squeezed lime juice on your fruit salad? Because it’s delicious. Something slightly tart to set off the saccharine watermelon and berries sitting before you, and so it was with this in mind that I grated a little zest and squeezed some juice into the strawberry mixture, already coated in a sticky layer of sugar and honey.
This recipe only makes a little over a jar of jam, which is unfortunate because that means it’s only going to last about five days (four since I made bagels yesterday.) But it tastes and smells like summer in a jar and, fully aware that I’ll be spending the entire week curled up indoors, I’m going to have to live vicariously through my seasonal condiments. I may have to make another batch on Wednesday, is all.
STRAWBERRY JAM
(adapted from Chez Panisse Fruit)
1 ½ cups fresh strawberrys hulled and halved
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon lime zest
2 teaspoons lime juice
Prepare jars and cans by washing both thoroughly and placing jars in oven at 200 degrees to disinfect.
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and let sit for 15-20 minutes to allow the sugar and juices to meld. Heat on high for 10 minutes until sugar is dissolved and strawberries are tender. Run an immersion blender through the jam until at desired consistency and allow to cool until mixture begins to set.
Pour into perpared jam jars and place upside-down on counter to seal!
