Strawberry Jam

I absolutely love canning! I think it is one of the best way to provide for a household when you're a housewife. I feel that you are making full use of your fruits and vegetables and supplying food down the road.  A couple weeks ago I made some strawberry jam. I had taken advantage of a buy one get one free sale on 1 lb boxes of strawberries at our local super market. I had grand ideas of eating them but about a week later they still sat in our fridge...I can't let them go to waste so I decided to whip up some strawberry jam!

Strawberry Jam

Start out by sterilizing your jars and lids. This recipe made 4 half pints of jam. I always sterilize more than I need, just in case. There are many way to sterilize jars, but this is how I do it. Place your jars into a canning basket in your canning pot filled with enough water to cover the jars( I use a stock pot), make sure the jars aren't too crowded and bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add in the lids and rims, cover and set your timer for 10-15 minutes.

While your jars are being sterilized, gather your ingredients. You'll need two 1 lb containers of fresh strawberries, washed. 3 cups of sugar( if strawberries are in season and rather tasty, you could use a little less) and 1/4c of lemon juice.

Cut off the tops and halve the strawberries. (I worked with one 1lb container at the time.) Then slightly mash the strawberries in a bowl. They can squirt, so I would recommend wearing an apron. 

 

Once you've mashed your strawberries you should have around 4 cups.

Next add your strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a heavy pot. Stir to evenly mix and heat the mixture on low until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to high to bring mixture to a full boil. Stir often to keep mixture from burning until the jam reaches 220 degrees F.

While the jam is cooking, your jars, lids, and rims should be sterilized. Remove from the water and place on some paper towels.

When jam is done remove from heat and using your canning funnel and a ladle, fill your jar leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top. Make sure the rim of the jar is clean and top with a lid and screw on a rim, tightly.

Place your filled jars into your canning basket and place them in your boiling canning pot. Process the jam for 10 minutes.

Remove the jars and let them cool on a rack. In the next few minutes you should start to hear the pops of the lids. There you have it! Tasty, delicious jam!

I hope you enjoy! This recipe was inspired by this recipe I found on allrecipe.com. I like this recipe because It's so easy and tasty on a piece of toast or fresh bread!

 

I will be gone the next couple of weeks. I'll be heading down south to Arkansas to meet my newborn nephew and spend sometime with my brother and sister-in-law. I'm looking forward to some nicer weather seeing we're currently getting 12 inches here...isn't Spring starting tomorrow?!?!