Homemade Strawberry Jam

The beginning of summer means more fresh produce at the farmer’s market.  June means avocado sandwiches, fresh herb bread, and best of all – strawberries.

We came up with this extremely simple recipe that beat out all the other, more complicated recipes we’ve tried before.  Realizing that we didn’t have any pectin on hand, we added in apples at the last minute.  Spreading the jam on fresh Cobble Hill Crave was well worth the short wait.

Ingredients:
2 quarts of market-fresh strawberries (roughly 3 pounds) – cleaned and halved
5 large apples – cored and diced, but not peeled
3 cups of sugar – any will do, we had castor sugar on hand

We used this recipe as the inspiration for our exceedingly simple jam.  The one large difference is that our jam used a lot less sugar than Purple Foodie’s recipe would have called for.  The jam still came out sweet and oh so flavorful.  So if you want a lower sugar recipe, just go for it.

Put the strawberries in a large pot that will cook evenly (cast iron is good).  Add the sugar and mix.

Bring to a boil and stir frequently.

Add apples and continue to boil.

The mixture will get thicker and the fruit will continue to break down (don’t be shy with a masher or fork if you want to help the process along).

The jam was cooked for about an hour. A little taste testing said it was done!

We boiled a few jars and lids that had been saved from some past jam or pickled item (and also boiled the spoon used to fill the sterilized jars).  Once the jam went in, the filled jars were boiled again for about 20 minutes.  During cooling, the lids popped and we knew they were sealed.  We knew our jam would be gone within weeks, so were comfortable re-using jars and lids that were in good condition.  If you want to keep your jam for longer – can with new jars and according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Now for the best part!  Our jam on a slice of Cobble Hill Crave was delicious.  It’s pictured here with some homemade peach preserves made last month.  Two slices of heaven on one plate.  Not bad for a lazy Saturday!