The Best Homemade Strawberry Jam

Growing up I remember picking strawberries with my mom and sisters on hot summer mornings. Returning home with my fingers stained red—and probably my lips too because I had to taste-test every few feet :-)—we would enjoy those strawberries whole, crushed with sugar for strawberry shortcake, and, of course, mom would make strawberry jam.

I swear homemade strawberry jam cannot be compared to store bought in any way, shape or form. It is beyond delicious, and that is probably why I have found myself making it for the past couple of years. While I planted 100 strawberry plants this spring, they won't really produce until next summer, so for this year I headed out with a dear friend and picked about 10 pounds of strawberries.

I decided to use the bulk of them for strawberry jam because, to my delight, I'm not the only one who can't get enough of homemade jam—the hubby loves it too! I wish I had thought to take pictures of the process, but, alas, my tired mind was only focused on the job at hand.

Here is the recipe and instructions to the yummiest strawberry jam that you can make too!

Ingredients

6 2/3 Cups Crushed Strawberries (hull, wash, then crush one layer at a time using potato masher)
1 2/3 Cups Water (or unsweetened fruit juice, thawed fruit juice concentrate)
1/3 Cup and 2 Tablespoons Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin
2 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar

Instructions

I began with filling my big canning pot with water, enough so that when I put my jars in they would be covered by 2 inches of water. Place this on a burner set to high.

I then hulled, washed, and sliced 6 & 2/3 cups of strawberries, crushing them with a potato masher. It is best to crush one layer of strawberries at a time in order to get them really crushed. After they were all crushed I placed them in a big pot along with 1 & 2/3 cups of water. You can also use unsweetened fruit juice, but water works fine for me.

After I was finished crushing the strawberries I prepared my jars by making sure they were clean and then setting them in a sink full of very hot water, where they will remain until I fill them with jam.

I set the strawberries and water mixture on the stove to bring to a boil. While waiting for it to boil I slowly added in 1/3 cup & 2 tablespoons of RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin. I then brought it to a rolling boil, meaning I couldn't stir the bubbling away.Then I added 2 & 1/2 cups of sugar and mixed it in well. When it came to a rolling boil again I set a timer for 1 minute and stirred constantly. After the minute I removed it from the heat.

I took my jelly/canning jars and began to fill them with the strawberry mixture until they were about 1/4 inch from the top. I wiped off any jam that was on the rim or around the band area of the jar and then I placed a clean brand new lid on the top and screwed the band on loosely. With this recipe I was able to make just over 10 cups of prepared jam. I had a small amount left over so I placed it in a small container to be used right away and didn't bother to give it a water bath but instead placed it in the fridge a couple hours later.

I placed all of the jars gently into the canning pot, which at this point was gently boiling, and boiled them for 10 minutes. Upon taking them out of the pot I set them on a towel on the counter to sit for 24 hours, and listened for the beautiful popping sound that ensured they were properly sealed. After 24 hours you should press your thumb into the middle of each jar lid to ensure the lid is properly sealed, if it is not it will pop in an out. If you find that any of your jars didn't seal properly place them in the fridge and use them first.

We enjoy using our jam for PB&J's, toast, on crackers and ice cream and in some recipes that call
for jam.

Here are some of the products I used to make my jam. These links contain affiliate links, which just means that if you choose to purchase them I get a small commission at no additional cost to you, which helps compensate us for the time we put into bringing you Penny Pinching Prose.


The start up cost to make your own jam may seem like it's not worth it, but once you have the jars and canning pot the only thing you will need to purchase in the future is the pectin and lids. I made my 10 cups of jam for less than $20, and not only is it yummy, I know exactly where it came from and what's in it!

Keep pinchin' :-)