Terri Ramsey Beavers I thought when lockdown started that I would become a better baker during my at-home time. That hasn’t happened. In fact, I’ve cooked less during the pandemic than before. My heart just isn’t in it.
However, jam-making is a whole other matter. I make jams and jelly every year and I wasn’t going to let a pandemic stop me this year. Because I’ve been focusing on outdoor fruit stands where I feel safer than shopping indoors, just seeing all the fresh fruits has inspired me to make jam.
Strawberry is always my first jam of choice so I got to work on it right away. I wasn’t thrilled with my first batch so I gave it another go. I’m glad I did because playing around with the recipe resulted in one of the best strawberry jams I’ve ever made.
If you’d like to try my recipe, keep reading to learn how.
I’m assuming if you’re making this recipe that you already know how to prepare your jars for your jam. If not here is the short version.
Wash and drain all jars and rims. Add jars to a pot filled with water until they are submerged. Heat to boiling and turn off. Keep jars hot in water until ready to fill. At that time, dump the hot water out and fill it with jam.
For the flat lids, add to a small pan and boil. Leave in hot water until ready to add to jars.
The above should be done prior to moving on to the jam-making.
Pandemic Strawberry Jam Recipe
4 pounds of strawberries
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 box of fruit pectin
1 box of strawberry jello
7 cups of sugar (pour up ahead of time so you can add all at once)
Wash and cut up 4 pounds of strawberries. Then put in a blender to crush or hand crush (I left mine chunky for my second batch).
Add strawberries to the pan. Bring strawberries, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 box of fruit pectin, and 1 box of strawberry jelly to a full roaring boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.
Add 7 cups of sugar to strawberry mixture stirring constantly. Turn the heat up to high and boil for 1 minute, continuing to stir.
Add fruit mixture to jars. Seal and add rings.
After all the jars are full, add them into a pan with water. Bring to a boil and heat for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Jam should be sealed and ready within 12 to 24 hours. I like to let mine sit for a full day after I hear the pinging sound, telling me the jars have sealed, before either storing them or giving them away.
Have you started making jams or jelly this year? If so, what kind have you tackled so far?