Summertime brings baskets of strawberries and this is a way to feel all creative with strawberry jam sans the Grandma Moses all day jam for the masses routine. No sterilizing, no giant kettles with scary bolts on the lid. None of that. This yields one pot of the best jam I’ve ever had (due to a couple of not so secret ingredients). It’s enough for crepes, a batch of kolaches, toast, or just spooned out of the jar.
To get started you need to know the difference between jam and jammin, although I highly recommend the jammin part as background music while you stir the pot. It won’t take long.
After it starts boiling some people skim the foam off the top. I don’t because I don’t think it matters but you can if you’re just standing around watching it.
You don’t have to be constantly be stirring, but if you step away don’t step away for long. And remember, the more times you make this the better you get at just eyeballing the pot to know when it’s done. The great thing about strawberry jam is that if it’s a bit runny it’ll still be great over ice cream or cake or in smoothies or even toast. If you cook it too long stir in a bit of honey to thin it.
Once you’ve done this a few times you won’t go back to grocery store jams (except maybe in the depths of winter).
- 2 cups sliced strawberries (1 16 oz. container of berries)
- ⅔ cup sugar, scant
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- One 6-ounce glass jar
- ½ tsp. rose water
- ¼ tsp. scant almond extract
- Place a spoon into the freezer to use for testing the jam.
- In a deep pot, add strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice and let set for a few minutes to draw out the juices.
- Heat and stir until it reaches a rolling boil. Boil and stir until it thickens, 10 minutes.
- When it starts to thicken take your spoon out of the freezer.
- Hold the spoon for 30 seconds then tilt it. If it slides too fast, keep cooking. If it moves slowly, it is done. Test every minute or two and do not overcook it. As the mixture reduces you should notice a ring around the pot where it has shrunk from the original volume.
- Pour into a clean glass jar and let set.
Leave a Reply