sweet & sticky

I wonder who invented jam. They must have been pretty brilliant to have such an astonishing brain-wave.

Or maybe they just wanted to satisfy the cravings of their sugar crazed kids. Either way really.

The first road-side strawberry stand makes me feel like summer is really here. I remember feeling so grown up as I strode across the parking lot with a fistful of change and asked the nice teenager for a bucket of strawberries. Sometimes on the way back to the car I would be able to sneak one out of the basket. Not only do the road-side stand/U-pick berries taste so much better then the imported-from-Faraway-Land ones in the grocery store, you got all the different sizes.
See, most of the berries in the little containers in the stores are all one size - medium-large. They pick out the ones that are just the right size for one big bite, and though that's all well and good, the smaller ones seem to have more flavor. Plus, you miss out on the scary mutant berries. It usually just happens in strawberries, since they are the weirdest berry (seeds on the outside? really?), and you'd think that some one Crazy Glued four berries together.

And that's just the berries.

Picking isn't that exciting really. Though there's usually this unsaid competition between me and my sisters to see who can get their basket full first. Or maybe that's just me.

Making jam is fun. And sticky. First you cut off the top of the berries (not very fun) and cut them into bits (fun). Then you add sugar and lemon juice and MUSH THE BERRIES INTO A PULP (very fun). My favorite part in making strawberry jam is the foam. After you boil the berries mush, pink foam floats at the top. It has to scooped off into a separate bowl, and, so as not to waste anything, we eat it. It's basically pure sugar that tastes like strawberries with a hint of lemon. Very healthy for you.

Every year we try to make enough jam to last through the year. Sometimes we make it, but most of the time we fall a little short. Usually because we've been scarfing it down. This year we were reduced to using store bought jam. I only had peanut butter and brown sugar sandwiches.

The only bad thing about the whole making jam thing is that all the berries get used. Unfourtunately, that means we need to go back for more.