Preparatory to anything else, I put up six half-pints and five mini-jars of strawberry-elderflower jam yesterday.  I couldn’t resist a half-flat of Bentons at the Saturday Market, just because we had been discussing them.  And the MFP Hotline people were right, they are bright red and make a tasty jam.  They’re also delicious, a lighter but still complex, flowery strawberry taste than my beloved Seascapes.  I thought the Bentons were better than the Shuksans I used for jam last year.

I also bought a pint of “Honey-Os” (Honeoyes) for eating. Though I had planned differently, I was once again seduced by no-pectin strawberry jam.  The Honeoyes were really tart.  I thought they’d add a bit of natural pectin, so I threw them in the mix.  Perhaps they did; the jam’s rather runny, but I think it will set up a bit firmer than what it looks like now.  The color is really nice (as you can see for yourself here), and would have been even better had I opted to use pectin and therefore not to cook it so long.

Anyway, the header picture is a berry color comparison.  Left to right: Seascape from my strawberry planter, Benton from the Slusher farm, Honeoye from Hentze Family Farm.  Each variety has different sizes and shapes, so the size here means nothing.