Our strawberry jam is an easy recipe with 3 ingredients and short cooking time to preserve the texture, color, and flavor of the strawberries.
It’s delicious on homemade bread, creamy oatmeal, and fluffy pancakes, or you can use it to add a wonderful strawberry flavor to yogurt and icecream.
Introduction
It’s so handy to have a jar of this strawberry jam in the fridge 🍓. We tried it on Greek yogurt, ricotta, Italian crostata, vanilla cake and more.
From breakfast to post-dinner sugar cravings, this jam is so good!
You should have seen Louise’s face when she tried it. Her eyes went wide open, and she looked at me like saying 😳 “Why haven’t you done this before”?
Admittedly, I put off this recipe for quite a while because I thought jams were hard to make.
I still have this picture of my grandma amid a scorching Italian midsummer heat, stirring huge witch-sized pots filled with boiling overripe fruit, and it all seemed too daunting.
Until I finally made this recipe. In a human-sized pot for regular people (not super-nonnas with Kryptonian powers) and in less than 1 hour.
The result is divine! Most of the work is done overnight in the fridge, where the strawberries are marinated in sugar and lemon juice.
To preserve the freshness, flavor, and color of the strawberries, I boil the marinating liquid for about 30 minutes and then add the chopped strawberries.
This allows us to cook the strawberries for only a short time, just about 20 minutes, preserving all their flavor
Instructions
Cut off the green tops of the strawberries, rinse them, and cut them into small pieces. I cut big strawberries into eight pieces and smaller strawberries into four.
Add the strawberries to a bowl with the sugar, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
You can peel the lemon with a paring knife or with a vegetable peeler. Try to only get the yellow part of the peel. The white pith below is bitter.
Mix well with two spoons to distribute the sugar. Cover with a lid and marinate in the fridge from 8 to 12 hours.
After 8 to 12 hours drain the marinating juice and add it to a medium-sized pot.
Simmer on medium-high heat for 20 to 30 minutes. The liquid should turn into a thicker strawberry juice.
Now add the diced strawberries to the juice and cook on medium heat for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Turn the heat off, give it a final stir to disperse the foam that might form on top of the strawberries and let cool down to room temperature.
Keep in mind that as the jam cools it will thicken.
Now you can transfer your freshly made strawberry jam into airtight jars and store it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Enjoy strawberry jam for breakfast with oatmeal, fluffy pancakes, oatmeal pancakes, banana bread, french toasst, or lemon muffins.
Use it to make a delicious dessert such as a strawberry flavored crostata or vanilla cake.
Canning
IMPORTANT: You must sterilize your jars properly when making homemade canned foods, as an environment without oxygen (canned food) is fertile for the growth of harmful bacteria.
Canned homemade jam is the best way to preserve the freshness of spring and summer fruit all year round.
However, canning is a delicate process and it’s essential to know what you are doing! We recommend following the guides on the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Here’s a summary of the steps to give you an idea of what canning involves.
- In a large pot, bring plenty of water to a boil and submerge all your jars and their lids—open—for at least 20 minutes. This will ensure they are thoroughly sterilized.
- After 20 minutes, carefully remove them from the boiling pot and place them on a clean surface. While they are still hot, fill them with jam. Leave 0.5 inches (1.5 cm) of space between the hole and the edge of the jar.
- If necessary, clean the edge of the jar with clean kitchen towels quickly dipped in the boiling water.
- Screw the lid on and seal the jars immediately. During the cooling process, the jam creates a vacuum that perfectly seals the jar.
- Following this method, you can store the jam for up to three months.
Questions
The principle behind thickening jam is simple: First, water is reduced through cooking. Second, the sugar melts. Third, natural fruit pectin acts as a thickener. The lemon juice in this recipe contains enough pectin for the jam to thicken.
Your jam didn’t set because 1) you did not cook it long enough, and it’s still too watery 2) you did not let it marinate with the lemon peel for long enough 3) your strawberries are too watery and need the help of a thickener.
To fix a runny strawberry jam you can add a teaspoon or two of agar. You could also cook the jam for longer until more water evaporates. When you add agar agar read the lable to calculate the quantities. Also, you need bring the jam to a boil to activate the agar.
You could make strawberry jam with frozen berries but we do not recommend it. In this case, you’ll need more thickener as frozen strawberries contain more water. Also, you will need to add more sugar to make the jam tasty.
Jam freezes well. You can freeze it directly in your glass jar. Just leave space between the jam and the lid, as the jam will expand slightly. When frozen, jam can last up to one year.
Yes, the jam will set without added pectine. We extract the natural pectin from the lemon peel. This should be enough for the jam to set. You can also substitute pectin with agar or chia seeds.
Jam will thicken quite a bit as it cools, so you should not overcook it, or else it will turn out too thick. If this happens, add a dash of water or extra lemon juice.
Any sugar will work to make this jam. We like organic unrefined sugar, but some people don’t, as it has its distinct flavor.
You can use coconut sugar, whole cane sugar, date sugar, and even agave or maple syrup. If you use syrups, you might want to add some extra thickener.
Similar recipes
If you liked this easy strawberry jam, you might also enjoy:
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 2 pounds strawberries without green tops
- 1½ cup sugar
- 1 large lemon the juice and peel
Instructions
- Cut off strawberries stems. Rinse strawberries and cut them into small pieces. You need 2 pounds strawberries after cutting off the stems.Add strawberries to a bowl with 1½ cup sugar plus the juice and peel from 1 large lemon.
- Mix well with two spoons to distribute the sugar. Cover bowl and marinate in the fridge for 8 to 12 hours.
- Drain marinating juice and add it to a medium-sized pot.Simmer on medium-high heat for 20 to 30 minutes. The liquid should turn into a thicker strawberry juice.Add the diced strawberries and cook on medium heat for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn heat off, give it a final stir to disperse the foam that might form on top and let cool down to room temperature. The jam cools as it thickens.
- Transfer jam into airtight jars and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Strawberries: substitute blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.
- Lemon: we recommend using an organic lemon since we let the peel marinate with the strawberries. Lemon peel contains pectin, which will help thicken the jam.
- Sugar: any sugar will work here, including cane sugar, coconut sugar, agave syrup, and maple syrup. We use white sugar.
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- Vanilla + Strawberries
Could this recipe be made sugar free by simply leaving out the sugar? Would it set up with the lemon and agar?
Hi Annie,
If you add more agar agar or more chia seeds, yes, it will set up well, but the texture will be more jelly like.
I am not sure about the right amount as I haven’t tested it. I would probably double the amount 🙂
I hope this helps,
Nico
Thank you.
Great recipe! Thank you.
Thank you, Kiki!
What size jars are you using, as I am making this for Christmas for the family and need to know how many ml this makes
Hi Rianne, I use 16 oz mason jars. That is around 450 ml per jar. If I remember correctly I could fill two of those with this recipe, so you should get in between 800 and 1000 ml of jam from this recipe (depending on the water content of the strawberries).
Would chia and agave work for alll fruit jams or only berries
Hi Rima, we haven’t tried all fruits, but in principle I think they would work. Some fruit (especially fruit low on natural pectin) might require more chia to make the jam thicker.
Guys any gluten free vegan recipes From crackers , bread cake candy or any you can help me with please thank u loads But l need full recipe .
With love
That was a great help but i need to preserve them a year , is there an explanation how It goes in details would that work with no sugar or the product will get damaged ?
Hi Rima,
if you want to preserve the jam for a whole year you need to pasteurise the jars after you filled them with jam to kill off all bacteria.
To pasteurise the jam close the jars well (previously left open to let the freshly cooked jam cool), then put them in a high and spacious pot where the water level must be 2-5 cm higher than the capsule of the jars.
On the bottom of the pot it is good to put some dishcloths to avoid the exposure of the jar to direct heat; in the same way it is good to put some rags between one jar and another.
Heat, bring to the boil and leave to boil for about 30-40 minutes taking care to check the water level in order to top it up if it drops.
Turn off and remove the jars only when the water has become cold, then dry them and store them in a cool, ventilated, dark place for storage.
The sugar prevents bacterial growth, so I am not sure if the jam would last a whole year without sugar.
Before you try, please read more about jam pasteurisation on Google. Im sure other blogs would go much more in details, unfortunately we are not experts in this topic 🙂