How To Make Homemade Strawberry Jam

Name: How To Make Homemade Strawberry Jam
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 4 lbs strawberries (frozen or fresh); 3 1/2 cups granulated sugar; juice of 2 lemons and zest of 1 lemon (about 5-6 Tablespoons of lemon juice, you can use bottled lemon juice)

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January 22, 2016
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Making homemade strawberry jam is quite simple and you only need a few ingredients. You can use both fresh or frozen berries. This homemade version has a smooth texture that isn’t too stiff, with just the right amount of sweetness, not cloying at all.

Homemade jam in January? Yes! I’m here to tell you that you can make jam any time of year. Strawberry season has just about arrived here in Florida and will soon be in full blast, so for my fellow Floridians, if you go strawberry picking, you’re all set with a recipe to make jam. The rest of you don’t have to hate us while you shovel snow and bundle up against the cold, because you can make jam too and make your kitchen feel like spring at least.

When I lived in New York, our family would go strawberry picking every year and come back home with buckets and buckets of gorgeous red beauties. We would eat until we could eat no more and of course we would still be left with a huge amount of berries. Berries spoil so fast, you have to work fast, or else all that hard work will be wasted. If you’re ambitious and have extra time, you can make jam right away, but another option is to freeze the berries while they are still at their best. You can use it for smoothies all throughout the year and make jam when you have some pockets of free time in the midst of your busy life.

Since I live in an urban area and have to travel many miles to get to any strawberry patch, I have discovered an awesome way of using really fresh and ripe strawberries without spending the time and energy to pick the berries myself. I just buy a bag of frozen strawberries and it makes wonderful jam. Frozen fruits and vegetables are picked at their peak of freshness, which means they are ripe and full of flavor. Many times supermarket berries aren’t all that great – you probably know what I mean, kind of bland and watery. Since the berries are already washed and hulled, it really cuts down on prep work.

Last but not least, there’s another really special thing about this recipe – it has HALF as much sugar as most typical recipes. I know that you need a lot of sugar for the jam to set properly, but I’ve been playing around with this recipe for years now, and finally came up with a jam that isn’t cloyingly sweet. I’ve been making it this way for about 5 years now (probably more, just don’t want to unintentionally exaggerate) and it works really well. The jam sets, it’s not too sweet and my husband loves it. It’s so much better than store bought jam. I love using this jam in many recipes, especially as a filling in yeast buns, danishes, puff pastries and more commonplace ways like on toast and crepes.

Ingredients:

4 lbs strawberries (frozen or fresh)

3 1/2 cups granulated sugar

juice of 2 lemons and zest of 1 lemon (about 5-6 Tablespoons of lemon juice, you can use bottled lemon juice)

Instructions:

Cooking the Jam

Place the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Do you realize how easy this recipe is? Using frozen berries is such a time saver. No washing, hulling, slicing, etc. In most of my local grocery stores, you can find 4 lb bags of strawberries, so you don’t even have to weigh the berries. (That’s why I developed the recipe this way, to use up the whole bag.) I like to use a dutch oven, because it is wide, big and very sturdy. Using lemon zest is so brilliant in jam. I got this idea from Ina Garten and it gives so much flavor to the jam.

The lemon juice not only gives acidity to the jam, but also prevents the growth of bacteria in the jam. Most importantly, it has something really important – pectin. Pectin is what makes sure that the jam gels properly and isn’t a runny mess.

Cover the pot, and stirring every once in a while, bring the mixture to a boil. Since the berries are frozen, keep stirring everything until the sugar starts to dissolve and the berries start to melt. Soon, the sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest will be evenly distributed and coating the berries. Keep the pot covered until the berry mixture comes to a boil.

Uncover, reduce the heat to low and keep simmering the jam for 35-45 minutes. Skim the foam off the top while the berries are cooking. If you’re using frozen berries, it will take longer to bring the jam to a boil and take a little bit longer to reach the right consistency, since the berries are frozen and will have more liquid than fresh berries. It will take longer for the extra liquid to evaporate. If you’re using a pot that isn’t wide, it will also take longer, since the smaller the surface area, the slower the evaporation.

How Do You Know When the Jam Is Finished Cooking?

The jam is finished cooking when it has thickened and reached 215-220 degrees Fahrenheit. A simple test you can use if you don’t want to use a thermometer is the cold plate test. Chill a plate in the freezer before you start making jam. When the jam seems to have reached the proper consistency, place a dollop of jam on the plate and let it stand for a minute of two. It should start to gel and shouldn’t be too runny. If you run your finger through the center, it shouldn’t run back together.When the jam is done cooking, crush the berries with the back of a spoon, a potato masher or an immersion blender. It should be really easy to do it, since the berries are really soft at this point. You can make it as chunky or smooth as you like. Don’t be too worried if the jam seems to be thinner than you would like, because it will become much thicker as it cools and sets. As long as you cooked it long enough and it reached 220 degrees Fahrenheit, it should be ok.

Fill sterilized jars with the jam and close with sterilized lids. Store at room temperature up to a year for best results. Refrigerate after opening.

Sterilizing the Jars

Wash the jars and lids in hot and soapy water. Then I place the glass jars in a 200 degrees Fahrenheit oven for about 15 minutes. In a medium pot, place the lid rings covered with water. Bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the lids. Let them stand in the boiled water until you are done canning, at least 10 minutes.

Filling the Jars With Jam

Pour the hot jam into the hot and sterilized jars. Wipe the edges with a wet cloth to make sure they are clean. Place the lids on top of the jars and close with the lid rings. Place the jars into boiling water and make sure they are covered with water up to the top of the jars. Boil for at about 10 minutes. Take the jars out of the boiling water. Cool the jars in a towel for about 12 hours. The lid should be concave.

Storing the Jam

If you process the jars in the boiling water, you can store the jam at room temperature.

If you don’t sterilize the jars and the jam, you need to store it in a refrigerator. Store open jars of jam in the refrigerator as well.