Thursday, May 14, 2009

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Who doesn't love strawberry freezer jam?  I didn't even know this stuff existed til after I was married and over at my in-laws home.  It is so yummy on toast, peanut butter sandwiches, homemade bread, and biscuits.  I even used it for the filling in a birthday cake I made a few days ago.  The best part is it is "uber" easy to make.


I wait til there is a really good sale on strawberries, then buy a whole bunch.  They were 99cents for a 1 lb container- that's better than I ever saw last year.  First step: wash and core all the berries.  (Note: you have to use the recipe that comes with the pectin you buy but the basic steps are all the same)

I was excited to find this no sugar needed pectin.  Normal pectin calls for about 4 cups of sugar to 3 cups of berries.  With this pectin you can use apple or cranberry juice in stead (I used the apple).  You can also add a little sugar or splenda to make it a little sweeter.  I used 1 c. of sugar, it was still just a little tart.  Next time I'll use 2 c. of sugar which is still better than 4c. with regular pectin, right?

Second step: Mash your berries.  The box suggested using a potato masher.  I find it is much quicker to use the chopper in my food processer and to pulsate so it's not completely mush.  You want some chunks of berry in there.

Third step:  Boil the pectin with the apple juice.  You have to make sure you bring it to a full rolling boil- as seen below.

Fourth step: Mix it all together and pour into tupperwares to freeze.

Ta da!  I think the whole process took me about 1 hour.  This is how much jam I got using one box of pecting (and 4 lbs of strawberries).  

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