We always need the staple!!! A jam recipe! If you don’t have one then add this to your list! Jam is always a great way to use some strawberries and in general a great way to make some for your family and keep them on hand instead of purchasing. Yes, a lot of these recipes, you can just buy them at the store but if you’re like me, I want to make as much from scratch as possible. So a little bit of time during Strawberry season can really set us up for jam for at least a year. I’ve been trying for 2 years now to make enough jam to last us 2 years. It doesn’t work. These people see more jars and think “ok time to eat even more.” So I have not personally found the amount that I need to make to actually skip a year of processing. I won’t complain though, we have strawberry plants in the back yard but we also love supporting our local strawberry farm.
Strawberry Jam
5 cups crushed strawberries
7 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup bottled lemon juice
6 Tablespoons Pectin
Prepare your water bath canner and let the boiling process start!!!
Combine your strawberries and lemon juice in a stock pot. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil and stir constantly.
Add your sugar and stir to dissolve. Bring your mixture to a full rolling boil and boil hard 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and skim off the foam if you have any.
Ladle jam into your half pint jars, leaving a 1/4 in headspace. Remove the air bubbles and wipe the jar rim clean. Place lid and band onto of the jar and secure to finger strength. No hulk strength allowed.
Place in water bath canner and process for 10 minutes. Remove jars and allow them to cool for 24 hours on your counter.
We use jam on a lot of different things. Our biggest is obviously sandwiches or just simply toast. But we also add them on top of our pancakes instead of using maple syrup.
As I was saying above, we have not successfully made it one year without having to can more. This will be our 3rd year in a row having to can strawberry jam. Before we moved to NC I canned jam and it lasted us like 3 years. We just didn’t use all that we canned. But now since we moved we go through jam like crazy. So for our family, it is worth going to the strawberry patch, picking and then processing! We use so much that it is worth making our own.