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It’s April and that means strawberries!! (Or being in Texas, it could mean March, or February, HAHA). We had 20lb of beautiful organic strawberries begging to be preserved. I wish I could say they were from our own land, but no. We’re working on establishing a good strawberry patch. One day maybe we will be able to just walk outside and harvest some. It’s on our mile long list of homestead projects!
However we did find the next best thing, a you-pick-it farm, locally. Years and years ago (when our oldest boys were itty bitty) we took them to a strawberry picking farm. It was a lot of fun and they come back with red faces. Not from the heat, but from all the strawberries they ate in the field! So we decided to take a short road trip and get the little kids out and pic berries. It was the end of the season but there were still quite a bit to choose from. We ended up with 20lbs of sweetness.
So what do you do with all those strawberries? Make jam, naturally. Our kids survive on PB&J (only because it’s their favorite and they love it) so why not give them fresh homemade jam instead of store bought? But the thought of normal jam recipes was terrifying. The amount of sugar usually was more than the amount of fruit. We try to limit sugar here, so we scoured around and found a low-sugar version!! Hooray, let the jam making session commence.
I was able to get about 18 pints of jam! You have to be careful about doubling the recipe as you run the risk of the jam not jelling. We did two batches. We used Ball Original Pectin. You can also use Pamona Pectin with good results for low sugar jams.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 25 minutes |
| Servings | pints |
- 6 cups Sliced Strawberries de-stemmed and hulled
- 1.5 cups Water
- 6 teaspoons Lemon Juice
- 9 tablespoons Low-Sugar Pectin Ball or Pamona
- 1 cup Sugar
Ingredients
| |
- Sanitize and prepare your jars and lids. Wash them in warm soapy water, then boil the jars in a water bath for 10 minutes. Boil the lids in the water bath for at least 5 minutes before using. Set jars on a clean towel to dry.
- Prepare strawberries, wash and remove stems and hulls. Place strawberries in your cooking pot and mash with a potato masher. You can also run them through a blender if you'd like. Depending on how chunky you like your jam.
- Add to the strawberries, the water and lemon juice. Stir in pectin and heat the mixture over high heat until it comes to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Make sure you are stirring the whole time to prevent the bottom from scorching.
- Add sugar and continue to boil for a minute, while stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
- Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving a 1/4" head space. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean cloth. Top with lids and secure with canning rings. Place jars into a boiling water bath and boil, fully submerged, for 10 minutes. Carefully remove jars and place on a dish towel to cool. You should hear 'pops' as the lids seal. Wait a few hours and check that the jars have sealed by pressing down on the center of the lids. If it 'clicks' or is able to be pushed down, it hasn't sealed properly. You can store these in the fridge or re-process them in the water bath. Sealed jars can be stored in the pantry until ready to use.
