Summertime to me means fresh strawberries, which also means strawberry jam. Last week the happy three and I checked one more thing off our Summer Bucket List we went and picked strawberries.
We love being out in the field picking these delicious fruits and then having our fresh jam to remind us of our time out picking.
How to Make Strawberry Jam
Just look at all those delicious berries, we ended up picking 24 ½ pounds this year. The first step in making the jam I need to clean the berries and cut the tops off.
This took me a couple of hours to do. Before we left to go pick I made sure to have my canning jars in the dishwasher so they would be ready when I needed them.
The next step was to put my jars in a hot bath, so into my canner that was half-filled with water. I bought this to a boil until I was ready for the jars.
In a medium-size bowl, I measured out 7 cups of sugar and sat this aside. Measuring out 5 cups of berries I mashed 1 cup at a time with a potato masher placing in a medium saucepan.
After all 5 cups of berries where mashed I added one box of Sure-Jell, I then added a ½ teaspoon of butter. This helps reduce foaming when the jam starts to boil.
Making jam
On high heat, I constantly stirred until the mixture came to a full rolling boil. I then added my sugar quickly and cooked again until at a full rolling boil. At a full rolling boil I let it cook for 1 minute.
As the jam cooks the deeper the color will be.
Last Steps
After the mixture came to a boil for a minute I moved the pan off the hot burner. Pulling one jar out of the hot water bath at a time I would then ladle the jam into the jars.
Leaving about ⅛ of an inch space from the top. I wiped the jars from any spilled jam on the rim and sides screwing the lids onto the jars.
After the jars are filled and lids are securely tightened I place the jars onto a towel to cool. As the jam starts to set you will hear popping from the lids.
Hearing the pop of the lids always makes me happy, I know that my jars are sealed. I leave the jars out overnight and then put them into the refrigerator for a few days.
I then place them into the freezer to enjoy for months to come.
Even though we picked 24 ½ pounds of strawberries, I didn't use all of the berries for making jam. I did 4 batches since I haven't made jam in a couple of years. Each batch makes 4-pint size jars.
The remainder of my berries were eaten and I made a strawberry pie.
Happy Jam Making~ Jenny
Other My Creative Manner recipes you may enjoy are:
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