Making Jelly With Grandma

Sometimes I forget how fun the library is.  It's been so hot lately (over 103 yesterday), so earlier this week we went to the library in the afternoon.  While we were there, Munchkin Girl picked out several books, one of which was Berries to Jelly, which describes something this culinary-challenged Mom has never even considered doing: making home-made jelly. 


Munchkin Girl was very intrigued by this book and we read it about 10 times that first day.  That night, she was cuddled up in Daddy's lap reading it and she looked up at him and said, "I'm not super good at making jelly."

We had to try not to laugh because she looked so distraught and sad at her inability to make jelly.  He replied, "Don't worry.  I'm not super good at it either.  But you know who is?  Grandmother!"

I called Grandmother that night and invited ourselves over for a jelly-making party.  My Mom went too, and once we got there, I couldn't believe how silly I was for not doing this kind of thing more often.  I'm not usually the sentimental type, but there is something truly special about spending time with four generations of women, and doing something memorable, like making strawberry jelly.

Munchkin Girl helped us stir in all the ingredients and she was so thrilled to make jam after she had read about in her book so many times.  We left Little Buddy at home so that we wouldn't risk him trying to tackle us while we cooked.  (You laugh.  It's happened before.  He's a wild man.)




My Grandma's recipe is really easy and doesn't require any long cooking of strawberries, so if you want to make your own jelly, give this a shot:

Ingredients:

• One 20 ounce bag of frozen strawberries (My grandma says they stopped making 20 ounce bags, but you really need the 20 ounces so you might need to buy two bags)
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 package Sure Jell (you will find this by the canning section.  Here is what it looks like)

1. First, thaw the strawberries.  You can try microwaving them on PL-5 for about 4-5 minutes
2. Blend them in the blender until there are no chunks
3. Mix with 4 cups of sugar, and then let sit for 10 minutes
4. Now, in a small sauce pan, mix 3/4 cup water with the Sur Jell.  Bring to a boil and then stir constantly for 1 minute
5. Next, pour Sure Jell mixture into Strawberry mixture and stir for 3 minutes
6. Pour into jars and let sit for 24 hours at room temperature to give time to set up
7. Refrigerate or freeze as desired

I know this is a day I will always remember and hopefully Munchkin Girl will too.  Mostly because I think we made enough jelly to last us for about three years.  Anyone out there need some strawberry jelly??




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