Homemade Strawberry Jam

Strawberries are my second-favorite fruit (next to watermelon).  A few weeks ago my friend Midon and I took our kids to Cox Berry Farms, where I tasted the sweetness of fresh-picked strawberries.  Then last week Midon and her children were sweet enough to pick more and bring them to me, so I decided to try my hand at homemade strawberry jam.

I had just seen a post on Faithful Provisions detailing how to make homemade jam without the hassle of canning, so I thought I would try it.  Here’s how it went:

 

I started out by de-stemming 4 cups of strawberries. (The instructions on Faithful Provisions called for 8 cups, but I thought that since this was my first try, I’d halve the recipe just in case I couldn’t get it right.)

Then I put the berries in my new Kitchen Aid food processor that Matt gave me for Mother’s Day.  I blended them on low until the berries were still a little chunky. (I like chunky jam.)

Then I added 1 3/4 cups of sugar with the berries to a saucepan.  I heated to boiling, then reduced the heat to low for about 2 hours, stirring every 10 minutes or so.  Alyssa was watching me most of the time and kept saying, “Hot bebbies!” (berries)

Meanwhile, I put 2 mason jars with their lids and tops in a stock pot and boiled for 20 minutes.  After the 20 minutes were up, I covered the pot and let them sit until I was ready to funnel the jam into the jars. 

This recipe made 1 1/2 jars. I froze the full jar and kept the 1/2 jar for the refrigerator.

Since this recipe didn’t use pectin, the jam has a more sauce-y consistency. I really like that because it seems more natural than a jelly.  So the first night, I used it as a strawberry sauce on ice cream.  Yummy!!

Then the next morning, I put them on my homemade wheat biscuits.  The consistency was just perfect, as was the taste. 

I don’t think I’ll ever buy strawberry jam from the store again. It was so easy and well worth the time.  I can’t describe how good the taste was, and knowing it is all-natural with no preservatives makes it taste that much more yummy!