Oh my goodness, long sunny days and hot weather finally arrived in Ontario!!! It was a long and cold, seemingly never ending winter. Early to mid June the morning temperatures were in low single digits! Now it is consistently above 30 C and I just love it!
This is also a middle of the strawberry season so I ventured to visit our local U-pick farm and harvested about 6 kilograms. We had them fresh for breakfast and they were so ripe and sweet, full of flavour! It is no doubt that all this plentiful sunny weather did its part! About 1/3 of the harvest was designated for jam making and the rest of it we will enjoy with pancakes, fresh and will make a sorbet as well.
Strawberry jam is one of my favourites and especially in combination with mint, that is heavenly! We have about 20 flower pots on our deck and this year we opted to plant vegetables and herbs instead of usual flowers. Mint is in two medium sized pots so I had key the ingredient right here under my fingertips.
There is nothing complicated about making a jam. The fruit needs to be washed, cored and quartered or halved, depending on strawberry size. If berries are small I leave them whole. To me it is a special treat to have a jam on a bread with few whole small strawberries. It reminds me of my childhood when jams were chunky and you could taste the texture and flavour of the fruit.
Weigh the fruit and add the sugar. The sugar amount is 50% of fruit weight. That is it.
Cooking is on a medium to medium low heat for a few hours until the jam reaches consistency you like. The easiest way to know when you are done is to perform a simple test: take a teaspoon of jam liquid and put it on a small plate. Refrigerate for 5 minutes and when you take it out tilt the plate and see how readily the liquid is flowing. It is representative of how your jam will end up being like. If you like it thicker cook it longer, thinner cook it shorter.
For two kilograms strawberry recipe that I normally make I can count on 5-6 small jars (250 ml).
The recipe for straight strawberry jam is the same, just omit the mint. Have fun and enjoy it!
| Prep Time | 1 hours |
| Cook Time | 3 hours |
| Passive Time | 3-8 hours |
| Servings |
jars
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- 2 kg whole fresh strawberries washed, hulled and halved or quartered
- 1 kg granulated sugar
- 5-6 fresh mint springs
Ingredients
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|
- Select only the best, firm, healthy and ripe berries. Don't use overripe or injured berries, save those for other use.
- Wash the strawberries thoroughly, hull and cut.
- In a large pot layer the strawberries and sprinkle with sugar in between the layers. Put the lid on and let it sit at room temperature anywhere between 3-8 hours.
- Remove the lid and over medium heat (5 out of 10) bring the strawberries to simmer. Reduce heat if necessary to maintain the simmer. You don't want to boil it off!
- Tie together mint springs with butcher twine, creating a bouquet. This way it will be easier to retrieve it at the end. Add bouquet to the strawberries.
- With spoon collect and discard the foam that is forming on the surface. You don't have to be to precise about this, remove as much as you can.
- After about 2-3 hours of cooking and approximately 50% reduction test the jam thickness by placing the small amount in fridge for 5 minutes. Once satisfied with jam consistency remove the mint bouquet.
- Fill the sterilized jars, seal with lid and turn the jar upside down. Place on a towel and leave overnight.
- Label the jars and store in cool and dark place at room temperature. The jam can keep well for a long time, for several years. Once the jar is opened you need to refrigerate it.
- jars can be dry sterilized in the oven. Place jars on a baking pan together with loose rings and lids. Make sure they are all separated to allow air movement. Place in preheated oven at 135 ºC (275 ºF) for minimum 30 minutes.
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