Summer = delicious, cheap fruit

It's been a few weeks! I've been settling into a full time internship and trying to enjoy the beautiful weather before it gets too hot around here! I kind of hate the summertime.  I mean, I love the lush vegetation and abundance of fun activities, and there's nothing like a warm summer night spent outside drinking, but I wish it never got above 80 degrees.  Ever.

I've also been buying lots of fruit!  I offered to make jam for my friend's wedding favors, and even though the wedding's not for 2 months, the berries I'll be using are abundant (and cheap) now.  So, the other night, for instance, I came home with 7 quarts of strawberries for 10 bucks -- and they're even cheaper now! Serves me right for jumping the gun, I guess.

I'm freezing the berries until we get all of the other supplies -- jars and such -- and experimenting with freezing techniques.  The ones on the left are cut up and frozen with about a cup of sugar, which the internet tells me will help to preserve the fresh strawberry flavors.  The ones on the right are cleaned, cored, and frozen whole on a baking sheet before being put all together in the bag.  So far, I'm more excited about the whole ones -- they seem to be in better shape overall.  We'll see what happens when it's time to make jam, but I'll probably augment the frozen berries with some fresh ones.

Here is a batch of blackberries ready for the freezer.  I decided to go for the whole-frozen setup with these guys, and they're all washed and placed on a wax paper on a cookie sheet, not touching.  Tomorrow I'll bag them up and fill my freezer until it's time to get cooking!