Making strawberry jam from the scratch is perhaps one of the most rewarding life skills when you have strawberries in abundance. My process is Pectin free and I use fewer ingredients and no preservatives at all. Pectin is used as a thickening agent in jams. But I just thicken my batch of jam by cooking it a bit longer. As you know all fruits contain pectin so it will help in jelling.
I add Lemon juice, cinnamon stick to it that certainly helps to fill the pectin quota and a hint of cinnamon adds a lovely twist to an old favorite. Both are subtle in the final product, yet they add a fruity fragrant in this preservative free Strawberry Jam ! So if you love strawberries, do give this a try !
Ingredients:
1.5 cups of Strawberry
1/2 cup Sugar (depending upon the sweetness of strawberries adjust it)
A very small stick of Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp Lemon Zest
1 tsp Lemon juice
Other Items we will be needing:
Small jars for storing the jam
Potato masher
A small Plate to test the consistency of the jam at the end (Keep this plate in the freezer section few hours before you start making strawberry jam)
Method:
Wash and hull berries, discard any rotten ones. Cut them into medium sized pieces and mix with sugar. Keep this aside for an hour (this step is done to draw out their natural juices).
Next, place them in a wide thick bottom pan along with lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon stick.
Mash berries with a potato masher and in between skip the foam as it is boiling. Bring strawberries to a boil and reduce to simmer.
Keep stirring the mixture for next 15-20 minutes to avoid it getting stick to the bottom.
Now comes the part where it needs to pass the chilled plate test. Take out the Small Plate from the freezer and place a drop of jam onto the plate and let it rest for 30 seconds. Tip plate to one side, jam should be a soft mass that moves slightly.
| Not there yet..... |
And if it is runny and thin then put the pan back on heat, boil the jam for another 2-3 minutes before testing the jam again.
| perfect texture... |
Remove jam from heat and allow it to cool a bit before transferring jams to sterilized jars. Seal and store in the fridge for upto two weeks.
They are too yummy not to eat right away ! Well I always make it in small batches and goes fast !
