Making Strawberry Jam

We tried 3 different strawberry jam recipes. One with commercial pectin which required 7 cups of sugar. It was too much sugar for us and we ended up over-cooking it. Then we made one with commerical no-sugar pectin (which uses grape juice instead). It came out okay tasting but too thick.

Finally, we made Old Fashioned Strawberry jam with no pectin. When you use pectin, you only need to boil the jam for about 1-3 minutes, depending on the recipe. When you don't use pectin, you need to boil the jam for at least 30 minutes while stirring frequently so it does take a bit more work. We found that the old fashioned came out the best tasting & had the best thickness, so that is the recipe I list here.

Steps of Making Strawberry Jam

First wash & rinse the jars, lids & rings. You should boil them for 10-15 minutes to kill any bacteria. Then keep in a 200F oven until ready for use (this will keep them warm so they don't crack when you pour the hot jam into them.)



I have this "Equivalent Measurements" magnet on my fridge. It really comes in useful when I need to do some quick conversion math. I found it at Target in the dollar section.



Next you prepare the fruit. Wash & hull the strawberries, remove any bruised parts. Crush the strawberries with a potato masher & measure amount for recipe.


Place the strawberries in the pot over medium-high heat. We don't like big pieces in our jam so we continued to mash with the potato masher until they were well mashed. You would add the sugar & lemon juice at this point.



Bring to a rolling boil (a boil that can't be stirred down). Cook until it reaches the jelling point (see next picture) or until thick, about 30 minutes. I think we cooked ours for about 40 minutes.


The jell point - you can test the jell point by dipping a metal spoon into the jam (we just used our wooden stirring spoon so I could get a picture). Lift the spoon out and let the jam drip off the spoon. When it falls in two drops and then flows together to form a sheet, it's ready. Our second batch didn't reach the jell point before we decided to stop cooking it and it came out fine, just a little more runny. If you like your jam thicker, than you should definitely aim towards the jell point.

This is a picture of the jam when we finished.

Ladle the jam into the warm jars using a jar funnel (you can find that in the canning section of a store like Walmart or your local fruit exchange). After you fill the jars, put the lid & ring on and process in a boiling pot of water for 10 minutes. This will kill any bacteria so the jam doesn't spoil.

Our finished jars of strawberry jam.

Old Fashioned Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:
2 quarts crushed strawberries (crush the berries before measuring)
3 tbs lemon juice
4 cups sugar
You can add 1/2 tsp butter if it starts to foam too much.

Directions:
1. Measure berries and place in an 8-quart or larger pot.
2. Add lemon juice and sugar to berries; bring slowly to boiling, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.
3. Cook rapidly to the jell point (see picture) or until thick (about 30 minutes). As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking.
4. Remove from heat and skim with a metal spoon to remove foam.
5. Quickly ladle into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace; seal.
6. Process in boiling-water bath 10 minutes.

Yield: About 8 half-pints

Derrick's toast the next morning with our homemade strawberry jam.