Homemade Strawberry Jam

Ingredients: organic strawberries, organic unbleached cane sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest

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Spent the weekend jammin! Who knew it was so easy to make your own jam. I took advantage of all the luscious strawberries at the farmer's markets and thought I'd experiment with developing my own jam recipe, based on Ina Garten's. I was undecided on whether or not to use pectin - a natural preservative, thickening/gelling agent, and color enhancer. Many jams, and particularly preserves, rely on pectin to get that perfect jam consistency, but realized that for a more homemade flavor and less work, you don't need pectin at all. 

The trick is that you need the exact proportion of acid and sugar in order for your mixture to gel properly and yield the perfect jam (not a runny strawberry sauce). I used the juice of one whole lemon (medium size) and its zest. Then I combined 2 C sugar (since I used 2 pints of strawberries) to all the lemon in a saucepan and started cooking it over very very low heat, for about 10 minutes until it melted slightly. Be careful not to caramelize this sugar! 

I chopped up 2 pints of strawberries and added them to the sugar mixture. Again, the proportion here is very important - in this case, the proportion of fruit:sugar = 1:1. I kept it simmering on very low heat for about 1 1/2-2 hours, checking and stirring every 20 minutes. 

In order to tell whether or not the jam is ready, you need to test its consistency on a cold plate (Ina's trick is to keep a plate in the freezer). Drop a bit of the liquid onto the cold plate and you can do both a taste and a consistency test. You will also be able to tell that it's ready as the strawberry mixture darkens significantly, and the bubbles start gurgling like lava. 

Read Ina's tips on sterilizing your jam jars (either in boiling water or dry, in the oven). I did not venture into attempting to preserving the jam as that is a whole other process in itself; I simply cooled the jam to room temperature and spooned them into my sterilized jars and refrigerated immediately. 

Because I used incredibly fresh strawberries, you will be able to taste the intensity of flavor immediately. It is surprisingly not at all sugary, but perfectly tart and balanced. This was so fun and easy and encourage you all to try - definitely worth it! Would love to start experimenting with an apricot jam next. Stay tuned...