The temperatures here are high,2 weeks ago, we hit 93 F and left me drained out and listless, but this week we are back in the low 60's.. hows that for unpredictable behaviour!!
In between these varying temperatures we decided to make a small one day picnic to Carlsbad Flower Fields.
It was a much needed break and to our joy, little S LOVED the flowers!! And what's more he
LOOOOVED the strawberry shortcake (takes after his Mommy, he does, Bless him!) we had outside the fields and M and I must have set a new record at eating swallowing our shortcake!!
Thus satiated, we made our next stop, at the adjoining Strawberry fields!
This was my very first time picking strawberries and needless to say, I enjoyed it!
At home sorting thru the bounty, we found some soft ones, no doubt due to travel. Now my MIL is handy with small tips and suggested we use the soft ones to make 'jam'. For a moment I was thrilled, but then, I realised and told her, I had no pectin, no know-how. She merely smiled and said "pectin-shectin... we never knew these in our time, let's take what you, young people , would call a shortcut, and there aren't THAT many soft strawberries." True! lets get started then!
We used
1 Cup chopped / crushed Strawberries ( wash thoroughly, hull and chop)
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Lemon juice ( we skipped this)
Wash and sterilise a jar that you plan on storing the jam in. Dry thoroughly and keep aside.
In a non-reactive pan/ kadhai combine the crushed/chopped strawberries, sugar and lemon juice (if using) and cook over med-high heat until soft and the mixture comes together, stirring often and skimming off the froth on top. This requires a lot of patience, it takes a long..long time for the whole thing to come together. I did not time it, I left the jam simmering on the stove top and in the mean time fed the baby, cleaned up etc. etc.
Store in the sterilised jar and refrigerate. Use a clean, dry spoon every time.
We made a second batch of jam and this time round I used my 'puran yantra' to mush the strawberries. I found an image thru Google search (and saved myself the effort of clicking that additional picture) 
Puran Yantra
The other proportions remaining the same adding just a few drops of lemon juice, which I felt was unnecessary.
The only difference in the batches were, the jam was 'smooth' as compared to the first version after getting pureed in the 'puran-yantra' but all hopes of it being seedless were dashed. The seeds remained intact.
