Making homemade jam can seem like a daunting task – I was a bit skeptical myself – but it really is simple and so delicious!
Strawberries were ready a few weeks early here in North Carolina so I made several batches of jam a few weeks ago. I haven’t tried this jam recipe with any other berries yet but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I’m going to try it with blueberries in a few weeks.
The cost of making 5 pints of jam was around $15 for me. I already had the mason jars so that will be a bit of an extra expense if you need to purchase those. $3 per pint jar is about $1 less than what I pay at the grocery store for brand name jam so its not a huge savings but it tastes sooooo good and they make great gifts for neighbors, teachers, etc. You could also make smaller jars, especially if these are for gifts, to stretch you $$ a bit more.
You’ll need:
- 5 1/2 cups of crushed berries – 5 1/2 cups is usually about 3 quart boxes of berries.
- 8 cups of sugar – yep, its a lot of sugar!
- 1 package of powdered pectin. This is usually on the isle with the canning supplies, paper products, etc.
To make the jam:
*Prepare fruit by sorting and washing fully ripe berries. Remove the stems and caps and then crush them. I use the food processor so they are all equally chopped, almost pureed.
*Measure crushed strawberries into a large pot. I use my 8 quart pot for this. Add the pectin and stir well. Place on high heat, and bring to a full boil while stirring constantly.
*Add the sugar. I measure out my sugar and place it in a bowl by the stove before starting to heat the berries. This way I don’t have to stop stirring.
*Keep stirring and bring the mixture to a full boil again. Its going to get big! Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
*Remove from heat and use a measuring cup to skim the light pink foam from the top of the jam.
*Fill your jars and enjoy!
If you haven’t canned before this is an easy project for a first timer. It is not a true canning process but you will get the idea if you use mason jars with canning lids. Just follow the instructions on the package for sealing you jars. It just involves a pot of simmering water for your lids and placing them on the jam while its hot.
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I make a sugar free version of this, and it’s way better than any I have ever found in the store! I just use a 12 oz of frozen apple juice, and the “pink box” version of pectin, there may be a different amount of fruit involved, the box directions tell you how much. Following the same steps, mix the apple juice into the fruit before boiling. You can add 1/4 C splenda at the same point in the process as you would the sugar-comes out nice and firm too!