I used to be not too long ago gifted an overload of strawberries: I purchased 4 baskets from a vendor on the market, whose sales space I store at usually, and he threw in two additional baskets without cost, the equal of a carte de fidelité (loyalty card) in Paris. So I’ve spent the previous few days washing, hulling, chopping and cooking my surprising bounty.
I’ve been making quite a lot of issues with the beautiful strawberries. However I additionally realized that whereas I’ve a Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam recipe on the positioning, I didn’t have a strawberry jam. So right here it’s.
Though I’m providing you with a recipe for the quantity of strawberries that I used, you should utilize the identical proportions when you’ve got only a basket…or a bushel. You’ll simply must do a slight quantity of math. Solely the cooking time will change, so keep watch over issues.
Jam-making just isn’t one thing you stroll away from and it is advisable rely extra on feel and look, quite than actual occasions. One other factor about jam-making is that fruit and berry jams are all the time higher made in small batches; the shorter the cooking time, the higher the flavour. So when you’ve got greater than 2-pounds (900g) of strawberries, contemplate making jam in a few batches quite than one huge one.
Strawberry Jam
Since I maintain my jams within the fridge, I don’t put them up them in a conventional sense. I often simply overturn the jars and allow them to cool, which supplies an affordable seal, then refrigerate them. I discover my jams maintain effectively this fashion for as much as one 12 months. Examine the Nationwide Heart for Dwelling Meals Preservation web site for directions on easy methods to can fruit jams.
Be aware: Final season strawberries are inclined to have much less pure pectin than ones that arrive earlier. So your jam could also be much less jelled. One technique is the finely grate a inexperienced apple into the strawberries earlier than cooking them, which provides pectin. (There are tips right here for utilizing liquid and powdered pectin.) I don’t thoughts the marginally runnier jam and it’s terrific on yogurt or served with recent goat cheese for dessert.
Elements
- 2 kilos (900g) strawberries
- 1 1/4 kilos (2 2/3 cups, 580g) sugar
- one lemon natural or unsprayed
- non-obligatory: kirsch (or eau-de-vie, or crème de cassis)
Directions
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Wash and hull the strawberries and reduce them into quarters. If some are bigger or smaller, simply be sure that the items all about the identical dimension.
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2. Toss them in a big pot, similar to a Dutch oven casserole product of a nonreactive materials, with the sugar. Minimize the lemon in half, squeeze the juice into the pot, and add the lemon halves to the berries. Stir effectively, cowl, and let sit a few hours (as much as 8 hours) at room temperature, stirring one or two occasions whereas they marinate.
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Put a small plate within the freezer. Flip the warmth on beneath the strawberries to medium-high and prepare dinner the strawberries, stirring often, as they cut back and the juices thicken. If a variety of foam rises to the floor, skim it away. When the syrup is the consistency of heat maple syrup – it can take about 10 to fifteen minutes or so, relying on the pot and berries, flip off the warmth and put a spoonful of the jam on the frozen plate and return the plate to the freezer. Examine it in a couple of minutes; if it wrinkles if you nudge it, it’s executed. If not, return the plate to the freezer and prepare dinner the jam somewhat extra, testing it once more. It could take a couple of occasions earlier than you get it to the precise consistency.
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When the strawberry jam is finished, take away the lemon and stir in a couple of drops of kirsch, if utilizing, then ladle the jam into the ready jars.
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