Easy strawberry jam recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 13 comments
Photo: Toast and homemade strawberry jam
“Wow. This jam is amazing. It’s so fruity and not too sweet.”
Jean examined the jar of strawberry jam.
“Would it be OK if I helped myself to a bit more?”
We were sitting at the kitchen table indulging in a jam tasting session. I’d discovered that Jean eats toast and jam for breakfast. So we thought that she might like some homemade jam as a present. Precious stuff, just for family and best friends.
Once you’ve tasted homemade jam there’s no going back to the shop stuff. Unless you are a genuine hair shirter. So when Jean left with her jam we included a promise that we’d set aside a jar for her out of each new batch that we made. She did sterling work on the cottage cleaning marathon after all.
I’m delighted with this recipe for strawberry jam. It’s a soft set continental style jam with pretty chunks of strawberry that are packed with flavour. Danny and I don’t like our jam to be too sweet and dislike the taste of jam sugar – preferring to use ordinary granulated sugar. As strawberries are low in pectin I used freshly squeezed lemon juice to achieve the set. You don’t taste lemon – just strawberries with knobs on.
You need firm strawberries for this recipe and if you live in the UK, English strawberries are a must. Imported strawberries just don’t have the same flavour.
Strawberry jam recipe
Ingredients:
1200g of strawberries
800g of granulated sugar
The juice of 400g of lemons (sieved)
Method:
The strawberries need to be dry so if they need a wash leave them to dry on some kitchen roll or clean tea towel.
The night before you want to make the jam hull the dry strawberries and leaving the small ones whole, halve or quarter the rest depending on size. Place the strawberries in layers in a large non metallic bowl covering each layer with sugar, ending with a layer of sugar. Leave overnight.
The next day put a saucer in the freezer for testing for set. Transfer the strawberries, juice and sugar to a large heavy bottomed saucepan or ideally a maslin pan
Add the lemon juice and stir. Taste the juice in the pan and if you would like a sweeter jam add up to 200g of granulated sugar incrementally. If you add more sugar it will set more quickly and give a firmer set overall. If you do add sugar, stir very carefully to make sure that all sugar is dissolved before boiling the jam.
When the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat. Our cooker knobs run from 1-9 and I used the setting 8.
Let the jam boil hard for ten minutes and then remove from the heat and test for set and the saucer from the freezer. If your finger doesn’t make a crinkly mark in the jam put the saucepan back on the heat and test for set every 5 minutes (mine took another 10 mins to set). Keep stirring regularly to avoid the jam burning.
When you have achieved a set let the saucepan rest on the oven for 15 minutes to avoid all the strawberries rising to the top of the jars.
Ladle into hot sterilised jars using a preserving funnel
This jam will keep for at least 6 months. Refrigerate when opened. This recipe yielded 3 x 1lb (450g) jars and a small jar.
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I followed this recipe exactly, boiled for extra time as well and it’s not setting :/ hoping I can get some pectin and that’ll work
Hi Hannah
Lemon juice works as well as commercial pectin. Every stove top is different, strawberries at this time of year will be different than strawbs in season. It’s impossible to follow a recipe exactly. As no recipe in the world gives the same results. My neighbour and I tested out this theory and although we followed the same recipe to the letter got different tastes and results.
This is lovely jam – I made it in the microwave, so the small batch is coming to an end now….must make some more!
Very good recipe. The sweetness is perfect and the strawberry taste excellent. I browsed a lot of recipes and once again my instinct told me correctly: This is the one!!
i love homemade jam too – i made a strawberry and apple one last night but can’t wait to make this with some fresh strawberries. i love using just normal sugar too – it’s fab.
Reading Keth’s comment about her grandpa’s jam made me think of days as a child spent with my mum when she made strawberry jam. I loved coming home from school and finding a couple of large wooden trays of strawberries on the kitchen table waiting to be hulled – my job and my reward was the strawberries that slipped into my mouth whilst working. There was always such a beautiful, sweet smell in the kitchen too as the jam was bubbling away.
After I completed my GCEs (as they were then) I went off that summer strawberry picking in Herefordshire when I think I probably ate more than I actually picked.
Despite my love of strawberies and helping my mum all those years I’ve never actually made strawberry jam myself but reading your post Fiona, I’m going to give it a go.
Thank you
some of my fondest memories of my grandpa involve his jam, made with fruits from his garden. Sadly he died 8 years ago so i’ll never taste his jam again, and i had a go at making my own a few years ago, which was lovely.. but it wasn’t grandpa’s, you know?
these days jam is a very bad idea for me (as a diabetic) but yes, i do agree. taste home made jam and you’ll never go back to shop bought!! Well worth doing if you like this kind of thing! (oh and damson jam is absolutely to DIE for…)
Mmmm, strawberry is my favourite jam as the flavour is delicious – and the seeds are way too small to upset my innards. Strawberry Jam on toast, toasted bagels or homemade waffles is such a pleasant start to any day.
Sending care and huggles, Michelle and Zebby – xxx and purrrrumbles
Ach, will have to ditch the jam sugar – didn’t know I could substitute with lemon – excellent!
I add a little rose fragrant geranium leaf, which gives it an interesting and complex twist. (I think the idea came from the woman who wrote the River Cottage Preserves book.)
That looks delicious.. I do love strawberry jam.
I have a brilliant recipe for raspberry jam that my godmother collected in 1937… The boil stage is just 3 minutes, which is scary but it works every time. I think it might be something to do with warming the sugar.
I will try this recipe – funnily enough I was looking at English Strawbs in the supermarket this morning – I also use ordinary sugar for my preserves – I’m not ashamed to say that I go into Poundland to buy it – 1.5 kilo’s for a £1.00, using that and my foraged fruit makes it super economical.