Strawbs!

Happy August 2nd!

And welcome to any new readers who are stopping by after reading my guest post at Moves 'N Munchies yesterday. So glad you clicked through to my blog!

I have something way cool for you today. All because strawberries are on MAJOR sale at Safeway. I mean 77 cents for a 1 pound carton. That's pretty darn good if you ask me.

I bought six. And then found out the limit is 4. (Luckily I found out there are ways around the limit rule, so don't worry!!).

So...what is one to do with 6 pounds of strawberries?

Make strawberry jelly, of course!!!

I don't even really use jelly. Nor am I a huge fan of jelly. But this jelly is good stuff!! It's almost like a strawberry sauce rather than a jelly, and it's super versatile. Let me give you the recipe before I talk your ear off about this jelly you haven't even seen yet.

Homemade Strawberry Jelly

Makes 4 large jars

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs strawberries 
• 6 cups sugar*
• 1 packet of pectin (I used Sure-Jell)

*This jelly is both tart & sweet, but not as sweet as store-bought jelly. For a sweeter jelly, add 1-2 more cups of sugar.

Start off by chopping the strawberries.

There are two options when it comes to chopping the strawberries. Either you can chop them really finely into small pieces, or chop them roughly into halves and then quickly blend them. I did the latter, and used an immersion blender to get this consistency:

It's sort of a combination between liquid and solid--definitely still lots of chopped strawberry pieces in there! If you haven't already, pour the strawberry substance into a large pot. [Keyword: LARGE. This is important!] Do not turn on the stove yet!

Add the sugar and stir.

Lastly, add the pectin. Then, turn the stove on to medium-high. The mixture will heat up, then boil, and lastly it will foam. 

This happens quickly! Make sure to keep an eye on this. Also, when it boils and foams, the mixture rises! This is why using a large pot is important. I learned the hard way after mine overflowed. 

When it starts to foam, stir. At one point, it will keep boiling, foaming, and rising despite the stirring. At this point, turn the stove off and move the pot over. Let it cool. I let mine cool for a couple of hours before transferring it into the jars.

Another note--just after taking the pot off of the stove, you can take the foam off easily if you don't want it. I kept it in my jelly as I found it doesn't make that much of a difference. 

As I said, this jelly is really versatile! But of course, I tested it in sandwich form with sunflower seed butter and chia seeds.

BRB. I'm going to go make banana soft serve and pour some of this jelly on top. Yum yum!