Strawberry Jam Making 1945

Let me tell you about my strawberry jam making back in the summer of 1945. But, first some background.  It was a bright sunny Saturday morning, and my parents had just left to attend the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis in Milwaukee. They walked to the bus stop at the corner, took a city bus to West Racine, where they boarded the North Shore train for a 30-minute ride to Milwaukee where they took a streetcar ride for the half-dozen or more mile ride to West Allis. The occasion:. My Mom and Dad were off on  a day-long trip as part of the celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary (they were married on July 5, 1920).  This was big event because my Dad rarely took Mom anywhere, partly because we had not owned a car since probably 1942 when the 1932 DeSoto became a victim of a World War II scrap metal drive.  In Milwaukee streetcars still ruled the streets and were heavily used because no new cars had been produced since 1941. In addition, during the war we had gasoline  rationing that limited how much driving could be done. Because of the tremendous need for transportation to work and to downtown shopping, buses came and went very regularly and quite frequently to accommodate the many riders It was not until the late 1950's that the streetcar systems in the large cities were replaced by buses, partly on the grounds that the streetcars slowed auto traffic that was now booming with the renewal of auto production right after the end of World War II. But, back to the canning adventure now that you all know something about transportation during and after World War II. 

Not long after my parents departed a local farmer who raised lots of strawberries arrived with one crate of fresh strawberries my mother had ordered to make strawberry jam.  As I recall, the crate contained 16 one-quart boxes of strawberries. I could see immediately that the berries were ripe and needed to be canned right away rather than having them wait until the next morning when Mom would be back. I realized my 85 year-old grandmother and I would have to get busy with the canning.

My grandmother immediately volunteered to help if I decided to go ahead and make the jam. I had never done this before but had seen my Mother doing the canning in prior years. Fortunately, we had a number of half-quart jars in the  fruit cellar and everything else what we needed.

So, we began the laborious job of  cutting out the stems of the strawberries so we could proceed. I don't recall what other operations were required. The cleaned berries had to be cooked, the jars sterilized, and then filled with the jam. I think we had to add sugar, pektin(?) and perhaps something else to make sure the jam became jam rather than jelly. After completing that operation, we had to fill the jars and after that pour a layer of melted parrafin over the top of each jar to preserve the jam.  We were just finishing up when my parents arrived home about 8 pm. They had had a good time at the Fair and mentioned some of the highlights. My Mom was especially pleased that grandma and I had taken on the strawberry jam canning project. Through the coming winter I took more than usual pleasure in putting jam on my bread and relishing its great taste.

​Ah, the benefits of helping both myself and the rest of the family.