The first time I attempted to make strawberry jam, it ended up more like strawberry sauce. This is because strawberries have very little pectin, which is needed to make jam set. My mum then went on to recall a time when she was making strawberry jam, and ended up standing over the stove into the wee hours of the night, waiting for it to set.
Then, the other week when I was in the supermarket, I saw jam sugar for sale. Jam sugar has extra pectin added in, so I bought it to make
jam. Following this success, strawberry jam was once again on the cards. It turned out beautifully, and there were no midnight cooking sessions. I now consider Jam sugar a must for making jams.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 hrs
Makes: 2.3kg
Ingredients
1.6kg strawberries
1.4kg jam sugar
3tbsp lemon juice
Method
Put a plate in the fridge.
Hull the strawberries and put them in a pan with the lemon juice.
Leave the strawberries to simmer for about half an hour until really soft.
Add the sugar and allow to simmer until fully dissolved. You should stir the mixture regularly.
Bring the jam to a rolling boil until it reaches setting point.
Take the plate out of the fridge, and spoon out a small portion of jam. If it wrinkles, then it is ready.
Strawberry jam has a tendency to form a skin. Although edible, it does not look particularly nice, so scoop it out.
Leave the jam to cool for about fifteen minutes, then decant into jars.
Categories
#Jam
#Strawberries
#Strawberry
#Preserves