Strawberry Jam

Its  that time of the year when you get fresh red strawberries every where you go…Those slightly tangy sightly sweet, pretty looking red berries with a lovely green little leaf on top. They are a delight to have in the house, by mere being there they add a zing to the house… During these days I typically bake a lot with them but this time I wanted to do something different…

When I was thinking on what to do apart from using them in smoothies and baking I thought about my son’s current obsession yes yes its jam so I decided to try my hands on Strawberry Jam… Now I have made mango jam, orange marmalade before but I have never made strawberry jam and when I was chatting with someone on twitter they told me Strawberry jam is a little more difficult to make than others and that made it even more clear in my head. What is tough needs to be conquered (though after making it I don’t think its really tough)

And the results were seriously good I mean really really good, though I made it on a Tuesday and had to wait Saturday to taste it (I am following a low carb diet and Saturday is my cheat day but more on that in the next post hopefully tomorrow) and by Saturday the smaller of the two bottles was already over. So Saturday morning breakfast was a crisp toast with some home made jam and some fresh berries to add some more zing… could it get better than that?

Strawberry Jam Recipe (Adapted from Lana’s Kitchen)

What I used

• 3 cups firm strawberries, chopped in halves (if they are bigger chop them in quarters)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

How I made it

• Mix the chopped berries with sugar and cinnamon powder and leave aside for 8 hours, occasionally stir if possible. I didn’t stir mine as I kept them in the night
• Place the above mixture (the berries would have left water and sugar quite melted) in a steel vessel (its important for it to be non reactive so please dont use a non stick one for this) and bring it to a boil over medium heat.
• Add the lemon juice and let it boil for 5 minutes stirring in between to avoid spillage. Set aside for 24 hours
• After 24 hours, bring the mixture to a boil again on high heat, now add butter to the same.
• Continue boiling the mixture for next 5 minutes continuously stirring
• Put the jam into sterile jars. Close it well and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
• And your jam is ready to be devoured

This was easily one of the best jams I have made and certainly not so difficult too… loved it all the way