Ingredients
Method
- Start by washing your berries in cold water. Remove the green tops and slice the berries into halves or quarters. Put the berries in a heavy-bottomed pot.
- Put a small plate in the freezer before you start. You will need it for later.
- Pour the sugar over the berries and stir them together. Let this sit for about thirty minutes. The sugar will draw the juice out of the strawberries, creating a thick syrup before you even turn on the stove.
- Add the lemon juice and turn the heat to medium. Stir the pot constantly until the sugar is completely melted.
- Once the liquid is clear and bubbling, turn the heat up to medium-high. As the jam boils, a white or pink foam will rise to the top. This is just air being pushed out of the fruit, but it can make your jars look cloudy. You can skim it off with a spoon, or you can drop in a tiny piece of butter. The fat in the butter breaks the surface tension and makes the foam disappear.
- Keep the jam at a steady boil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Since we are not using a thermometer, get the plate of the freezer. Drop a spoonful of hot jam onto the cold plate and let it sit for a minute. Push the jam with your finger. If it wrinkles and holds its shape, it is done. If your finger slides right through it, boil it for another three minutes and try again.
- Turn off the heat and let the jam sit for five minutes.
- Pour the hot jam into clean, sterilized glass jars, leaving about a quarter-inch of space at the top.
- Let the jars sit on the counter until they are completely cool before moving them to the fridge or a dark pantry.
Notes
To make your jam stand out, focus on the quality of the berries. Huge, watery strawberries from the supermarket often lack flavor.
If you can, go to a local farm or a farmer’s market during the peak of strawberry season. Small, dark red berries have the most sugar and will give you a much better result.