Simple Strawberry Freezer Jam

I love simple recipes, like strawberry jam. Recipes that have only a few ingredients really allow the natural flavors to shine through. Another thing I love about simple recipes is how they don’t intimidate people who are learning how to cook. This recipe requires nothing extraordinary to be delicious, and anyone can do it.

Every year we fall for the same trick. We buy a huge flat of strawberries from a local farmer or market, thinking we will eat them all. Of course, after a couple days they are so ripe that if you don’t use them all immediately, they will rot.  Enter strawberry jam. This recipe salvages the strawberries (or any other fruit)  that were about to be lost to mold. It is such a waste of money to allow them to go bad, when you can so easily rescue them by turning them into an amazing jam that can be used on toast, ice cream, etc, etc, etc.

All you have to do is adapt this very basic recipe for the amount of extra fruit that you have on hand.  Last night, I had 8 cups of strawberries. So my recipe will be based on 8 cups. Don’t let the lemons scare you off. You really do not even taste them in the jam, but since I am not using a pectin, the lemon juice will help draw out the natural pectin in the strawberries.

Simple Strawberry Jam

Slice strawberries into small pieces. Mash them with a potato masher. You can leave some larger pieces if you want to, they are going to cook down.

In a heavy pot, add all ingredients and begin to stir till all the sugar has dissolved, creating a syrup. Bring mixture to a boil.

Allow to boil slowly for approximately 20-30 minutes. Jam will slowly begin to thicken and reduce. (This recipe does create a thin jam. It thickens more as it cools in refrigerator, but it does not become a solid. To create a more solid jam, you will need to add a gelatin.)

Make sure to stir this very often to avoid the sugar burning to the bottom of your pan.

Once the jam has thickened and reduced some, turn off the stove and allow to cool. Once cool, place jam in jars, and put in refrigerator. The next day, I freeze all but one jar.

Keep in mind that this recipe is not canning the jam, therefore it must be put in the freezer for long term storage. (Up to 6 months.) The jar in the refrigerator should be used in a few weeks, or you will notice a mold layer begin to grow on the top.  I love to buy small canning jars to do this recipe. It allows you to enjoy and use up the jam without it having a chance to go bad.

Like this jam recipe? Check out this one for Plum Jam!

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