Homemade strawberry jam

HoneyBee83

Morning all

Just popped into the garden and my strawberries are looking fantastic! I have a wild strawberry plant and usually the fruits are all eaten before i get to pick them but this year they havent been touched!:j
Need to pick them asap!
I want to make up some jam to go with the scones i made the other day.
Does anyone have a great recipe i could use??

Penelope_Penguin

HoneyBee83 wrote: »

Morning all

Just popped into the garden and my strawberries are looking fantastic! I have a wild strawberry plant and usually the fruits are all eaten before i get to pick them but this year they havent been touched!:j
Need to pick them asap!
I want to make up some jam to go with the scones i made the other day.
Does anyone have a great recipe i could use??

If you do a search om "strawberry" in this thread on jam making, lots of recipes come up

HoneyBee83

Thanks Penelope Penguin!
Wish me luck!

cyberbob

Its basically the same weight Strawberries to the same weight sugar with some lemon juice (as strawberries have quite low pectin. I always find lemon juice better than pectin or sugar with added pectin as adding pectin can easily effect flavour. I use a traditional Recipe that recommends leaving the Strawberries overnight in about a third of the sugar as this helps bring the flavour out.

Homemade Jam is always so much better tasting than bought stuff. Also a great way of giving gifts to people. If you can ever get hold of Gooseberries they make the most fantastic jam.

Kevie192

Hi everyone,

I've been to pick my own strawberries today with a view to making my own jam. Trouble is, I have no idea how!

It was £1 per lb so I have approx 6lb of strawberries which are lovely and sweet. I found a recipe of Jamie Oliver's but this uses a vanilla pod, but I'll be giving this jam to family as gifts and they would like a 'traditional' strawberry jam - do you think the vanilla would take away from this? Perhaps I could do half with vanilla and half without...

I would also rather use normal sugar and not jam sugar as that's far too expensive!

Also, how many 1lb jars will I get from 6lb strawberries?

Kevin x

babyshoes

I would think you can just leave out the vanilla if you like, but I would imagine it wouldn't overpower the taste, rather just add a little something to it. If you use normal sugar, you may need to add some pectin - you can find little bottles of it near the sugar.Also add a good squeeze of lemon juice to help it set. We find this cheaper than jam sugar. If you don't use any pectin, you may find that your jam won't set, as strawberries are naturally low in pectin.

I would suggest making a small batch first to test whatever recipe you decide to use, then just tweak the recipe for the rest, such as more/less vanilla, more/less pectin and longer or shorter cooking time. Afraid I can't help you with the number of jars, but I would say from experience to prepare (sterilise) more than you think you will need!

You can make your own pectin extract from cooking apples, but they won't be ripe for a while yet. This year I am planning to make a load of pectin extract from windfall apples, and finding a way to preserve it for the early fruits next year. Not sure if it will freeze, but I plan to find out!

Good luck, we started making jam last year and are now hooked - it is much easier than people make it out to be, as long as you follow the instructions carefully!

sockdrawer

I would just leave out the vanilla pod.
I've just finished making strawberry jam, as we managed to get a whole load of reduced berries for pennies :j
The recipe we use is quite simple: Hull your strawberries cut most of them in half, leaving some smaller ones whole if you want to discover lovely gloopy strawberries in your jam, then weigh them.
Put them in a pan (not aluminium) with an equal weight of sugar and the juice of two lemons. At this point I either leave them overnight, or for a few hours. I am not sure why, but I think it helps extract the juice or something.
Bring up to a boil slowly to let the sugar melt, then boil it quickly for 10 - 20 minutes until "setting point" (when a spot of jam placed on a cold plate cools to a jelly) Let it cool a little then ladle into sterilised jars.
That works for me. I'd be tempted to make it in two batches though as it's easier to handle that way. The only problem with making jam in this house is it lasts a week then it's gone, and the complaints start that I've not made jam for "a while......" Hmmmmmm.
edit: you might find this thread by apprentice tycoon interesting http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=349356

Zazen999

If you don't use jam sugar it gets a bit more complicated - the best recipe is

the same weight in strawbs as jam sugar

a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Put into very large pan; mash the strawbs and boil until it reaches setting point.

Pour into sterilised jars.

Although the jam sugar costs more, it doesn't in reality as you either need to add certo or apples to provide the pectin.

The lemon juice doesn't help it set; it stops it from foaming too much. I like the foam though and always put this into one jar and have that jar first. Usually before it is cool.

Kevie192

Thanks ladies.

The Jamie recipe uses just half the sugar to fruit... As these strawberries are already very sweet, I think that should be enough (i really don't want it to be too sweet) but will the jam sugar still have enough pectin to set at this concentration?

Ladyhawk

Zazen999 wrote: »

The lemon juice doesn't help it set; it stops it from foaming too much. I like the foam though and always put this into one jar and have that jar first.

Are you sure about this? I never use jam sugar or pectin, only lemon juice and my jam sets beautifully.

Zazen999

Ladyhawk wrote: »

Are you sure about this? I never use jam sugar or pectin, only lemon juice and my jam sets beautifully.

Well, I haven't tested scientifically; perhaps you boil it a tad more?