Strawberry jam is, in my opinion, the prototype against which all jams are measured. The optimal texture is neither large pieces nor a fine purée, reached here with a potato masher. This jam easily develops a "cooked" taste that detracts from the distinctiveness of the berries. To minimize that, this recipe boils off water before adding sugar (which would increase cooking temperature and flavour loss) and pre-heats the sugar to reduce the amount of time bringing the batch back up to temperature after adding it.
Ingredients
For 3 pints
- 1000 g strawberries
- 850 g sugar
- 4 tbs lemon juice
- 1 package pectin (optional)
Steps
- Preheat an oven to 215 °F.
- Put the sugar in the oven and warm to the oven's temperature, at least 1 hour.
- Fill a canning kettle with water to the appropriate level and bring to boil. Reduce heat and keep ready at the boil until the jam is ready. Sterilize canning jars and lids.
- Hull the strawberries. Mash them coarsely with a potato masher.
- Put the strawberries in a pot with at least three times the capacity of the batch.
- Bring batch to a boil. Keep at the boil, stirring occasionally, until the volume drops noticeably and mixture starts to thicken.
- Add the hot sugar to the strawberries, stir in to dissolve, and return to the boil. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the batch reaches 215 °F.
- Add the lemon juice and pectin.
- Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches the jellying point, around 221 °F.
- Can and seal jars in canning kettle 10 minutes.