Strawberry jam is so easy to make if you have the right recipe and method.  For years I  tried all different kinds of these recipes, without much success.  Needless to say I was sceptical of this recipe but I thought I would give it a try. There was no looking back. My daughter-in-law and her friend decided to make strawberry jam and asked me to show them how I made mine.  I quickly agreed.  You see I had an ulterior motive.  I could take pictures of the process for my blog without having to make it myself. This is an easy method. I encourage you to give it a try.

Wash your jars and their rings in the dishwasher.  It’s also ok to do them by hand, remembering to rinse them really well.  Preheat your oven to 170 degrees farinheit.  Place the jars into the oven where they will remain until you will be ready to use them.  Also place a spoon in the freezer.  Trust me on this one.

Hull your strawberries and place them into a large bowl.  I challenge you not to eat these while performing this task.

With a potato masher, mash them to the consistency you like.  I like mine with a lot of lumps.  I wouldn’t use a food processor.  It would make them too watery.  Oh gosh they smell heavenly!

Place the berries into a pot.

Add your Certo Crystals.

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Place the pot on your stove on a medium-high heat, stirring continually until it comes to a boil.

Add your sugar

Lower your heat a little after mixture of berries, certo and sugar comes to a boil, retaining a smaller boil.  Stirring often, allow mixture to boil about 40 minutes.  Careful not to burn the jam.  The house now smells ssssooooo good.

After 40 minutes skim off the foam.  It will have reduced quit a bit and will be thicker.  Can you smell the strawberries?  Oh I can.  Mmmmmm!

Then take out spoon from freezer, dip quickly into jam.  If the spoon is coated your jam is ready. If it runs off spoon just cook a bit longer.  Remove pot from heat and continue stirring 5 minutes.

Into a pot with water, place 2 sealing lids, bring them to a boil and boil them for 6 minutes.

Take only two jars out of the oven at one time.  Oops, sorry for the glare.  It’s all about not having enough arms to do two different things.  Taking a hot jar out of the oven and taking a picture of it at the same time.

Insert wide END of a large funnel into the jar, proceed to fill jar and repeat with second jar.

Take a clean and damp tea towel wiping the very top of the jars.

With another dry clean tea towel, wipe the same edges to ensure they are dry for a good seal.

Remove the sealing lids from the boiling water 1 at a time.  Wipe in a dry clean tea towel, making sure it is completely dry.

Very carefully, place sealing lids are on jars.

Take the rings putting them on the jar but place finger on sealing lid to ensure it doesn’t move while tighting.

Take the two jars, placing them on a flat surface that have a very thick towel on it, covering them with another thick towel.  Don’t they look like you know what you are doing?

I like to use nice thick beach towels.  Don’t they look pretty? Repeat with other jars. Only uncovering when 2 more jars are ready to be placed under towels.

When you have finished filling all the jars and have placed them under the towels, leave covered overnight.  They should be sealed next morning.  Any jars not sealed properly, use now or refrigerate .

Well I knew this would happen.  I had no intentions of doing jam this year.  After helping the girls and doing the blog, I’ve decided to do some jam.  So off to the market I go tomorrow.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

4 1/2 cups hulled, mashed strawberries

1 box certo crystals, (57 grams)

3 cups sugar

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Place mason jars in the oven at 170 degrees.

Hull the strawberries and mash with a potato masher. Only doing 4 1/2 cups at a time. NEVER do more then  this at one time because the jam won’t turn out.

Mix certo crystals with fruit in a large pan.

Place over medium-high heat and stir continually until it bubbles.

Add 3 cups sugar.

After berries, certo and sugar come to a boil, again continually stirring, lower heat a little but maintain a smaller boil.

Stirring often allow mixture to boil 40 minutes – careful not to burn jam.

Place teaspoon in freezer for 15-20 minutes-using a frozen spoon, dip quickly into jam and set aside for a couple of minutes.  If jam sticks to spoon, then it is good to go.  If not then it needs a few more minutes to cook.

If jam is set, take pan off heat and remove foam then stir for about 5 minutes.

Pour jam into heated jars. Make sure sealing lids are clean and dry place the sealing lid on the jar and the ring, tighten.

Place jars onto a flat surface covered with a thick towel. Then cover the jars with another thick towel and let sit over night.  Each jars top will pop as it cools. This will create a good seal. You will be able to see that the lid will fall and if pushed will not move. If any jars have not sealed, use now or refrigerate .

Each quart or 4 1/2 cups of berries makes one jar of jam.

There will be times when the jam is too hard or too soft because the berries are soft from a lot of rain or they are small and hard from not enough rain.

Just feel a sense of accomplishment because of what you have made but most of all enjoy the fruits of your labour.  Ha ha, get it?

Thanks Sarah and Jenn, you’ve just given me more work to do at home.