Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Jam recipe

One of the things I am grateful for staying the US is that you get fresh sweet strawberries. They are so colorful and I always buy a big box when I visit the grocery store when they are in season. The husband hardly eats store bought bread so I thought it would be nice to have this pairing with my homemade bread. This recipe is incredibly simple, needs just 3 ingredients and delicious!

I know most of us end up buying jam in stores so making this at home isn’t really necessary but this is a great recipe to make just when you want a small quantity of fresh homemade jam that’s free of preservatives and also you can make it organic or with reduced sugar too. Here’s what you will need.

Ingredients

Strawberries	2 lbs or about 5 cups of chopped berries
Sugar	2.5 cups
Lemon Juice	Juice of one lemon

Method

Wash the strawberries and chop them into quarters. Mine were pretty large berries so I quartered them. If you prefer a chunkier jam you can halve them instead.

Add the lemon juice and about 1 tsp of sugar and mix it into the berries. Let it sit for 10 minutes.Once that’s done mash the berries a little with a potato masher. Then add the sugar and strawberries into a big pot and switch on the stove.

The strawberries will ooze out more juice along the way and the mixture will become runny. Keep cooking it for about 20-25 minutes.

It will star to congeal together and become gel like. When the mixture is thickened nicely, you will be able to see a lot of bubbles on the surface. It will be runnier than finished jam but don’t overcook it. It will thicken more while it cools down. If overcooked the sugar will crystallize and the finished product will not be nice as we want the jam to remain gooey and moist.

Switch off the stove and transfer it into a jar to completely cool. It is better to use glass jars, especially while storing it for a long time. Sterilise the jars by boiling them in hot water before storing the jam. Unless you are absolutely sure that the jam will be used up soon , it is always better to store them in sterilized jam jars.

Tips

•  Its better to taste the berries before you decide the amount of sugar you add. When in season, they are naturally very sweet and do not need as much sugar.
• Brown sugar can also be used instead of white sugar, as it is healthier.