I hope you had a great 2015, I know I did! Lots of travel and love from friends and family. I’m truly blessed and try not to take it for granted. I’m going to do a 2015/2016 goal post, but for now I thought I’d wish you all a Happy Holiday. Whatever you do or don’t celebrate, strawberry jam always hits the spot. Especially homemade strawberry jam!
I know, it’s so not the season for strawberries, but remember I live in California? And guess what? They carry organic strawberries pretty much all year round. I bought a flat from the farmer’s market for my gifts, but they have organic strawberries at even Costco around here. While everyone is getting snow, I’m getting a bit of rain and fresh strawberries. It’s true, they are better in the summer but I’m not very good at planning holiday gifts so it was a last minute buy. Plus, enough sugar makes an “okay” berry great.
I did change up the basic recipe a tiny bit. I add more fruit, which makes it less dense than store bought. We use jam as a mix-in for yogurt a lot around here and this recipe is so much easier than the harder set fruit jams. It seems to work for me. If you don’t care about clarity (which I don’t half the time) you don’t have to skim that much off the top. These were for gifts so I totally skimmed the top quite a bit. Use whatever jars you would like, however you do really really have to process them. That only means boiling them, it’s not that hard, but you don’t want creepy things growing in your jam.
- 8 Cups of chopped strawberries
- 1 box Pectin
- 1 tsp margarine
- 7 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
- Bring boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.
- Stem and chop strawberries. Measure 8 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot.
- Stir pectin into fruit in saucepot. Add margarine to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Return to full rolling boil and boil 1 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.
- Ladle immediately into prepared jars, filling to within ¼ inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if needed.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.) You should hear them start to pop and then you know everything is okay.
