I finally got to the Jacksonville Farmer’s Market. It was the middle of March and a lot of the “seasons” were coming to an end. I bought three flats of strawberries along with a bunch of other produce. I got home and literally stuffed every nook and cranny of my refrigerator with fruits and vegetables. Then I turned around and there were all of those strawberries, still sitting on the counters.
I had thought that I had a couple of boxes of pectin in my cupboards, so I wasn’t worried about the berries. After tearing apart my kitchen, my pantry and every other part of my house, I realized that I only had one box. By then, I was getting a little tired and those berries were still sitting on my counters, mocking my efforts. I grabbed my Ball Blue Book (ad) and found a no-pectin recipe for canned jam that I had used before. It only took a little while to make and soon I had four cute little pint jars full of jam….and two and a half flats of berries left.
I chopped up more berries and made up the freezer jam recipe on the pectin. It was No Sugar added pectin, which meant that I didn’t have to add more sugar than berries like the normal pectin requires.. I used my Cuisinart Mini Prep (ad) to chop up many of the berries into jam-ready 4 cup bags. We ate half a flat and I sliced the rest up for smoothies and pies and whatever else
It occurred to me as I made the jam that everyone might not know how to make jam. Freezer jam is simply a matter of following the directions included with the box of pectin you buy. I am not going to share that here. But I will tell you that I made my freezer jam with pure maple syrup and apple juice. It was really good.
And just fyi, I took the pictures with freezer jam that had just come out of the freezer, so I had to scrape a spoonful for the photo. There were some ice crystals in the container, which now look like crumbs. Perhaps I should have photo shopped them out, but, I didn’t. Just know that no crumbs entered the bowl of jam in the taking of these photos.
1. Info for Strawberry Jam
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: unavailable
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Strawberry Jam
- 4 cups strawberries, crushed
- 4 cups sugar
3. Directions:
- Mix strawberries and sugar in a Dutch oven.
- Stir until sugar is dissolved over medium high heat.
- Bring to a boil and continue boiling, stirring occasionally to prevent burning until it reaches 220 degrees (use a candy thermometer).
- Keep it at 220 for 15 minutes and the jam thickens, stirring carefully to avoid being burned.
- Ladle into clean pint jars, leaving 1 inch head space, affix softened lids and rings and process in a boiling bath 10 minutes (add 1 minute for every 1000 feet above sea level)
- Remove from water and let cool, undisturbed on the counter.
- Check to make sure lid is sealed by pressing on the middle – if it pushes in and out, it isn’t sealed and should be stored in the refrigerator.
4. Tips and advices:
- The general rule is 1 cup sugar to 1 cup berries. I know that seems like a lot, but this is shelf stable jam and you need the sugar to prevent spoiling. If you prefer less sugar, you should look into No Sugar pectin and follow the instructions in the box.
