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The World’s Easiest Homemade Strawberry Jam

Filed Under: Recipes

By 9 Comments Jump to Recipe

Oh jam.

Sweet, fruity, spreadable love.

Why do you have to be so intimidating to make?

Pectin? Seriously?

No. I love you, but I’m not hunting down pectin, whatever that is.

But I want you! My peanut butter and jelly sandwiches need you! (Okay, I know jam is not jelly, but you know what I mean.)

But I am stubborn persistent. I want my jam.

I do not want to pay 10 dollars  a jar for the decent stuff I want.

So I will disregard all the supposed difficulty and excessive canning equipment, and I will make it simple.

And it worked!

The World’s Easiest Homemade Jam

Ingredients

at least one basket of strawberries, hulled and cut in half lengthwise (I have done this with blueberries, but I cannot vouch for other berries. Yet.)

1/16t salt per basket of strawberries used

Mash berries with a potato masher until juicy but chunky, like this.

Add salt and boil mixture for about 10 minutes, or until thick.

Now whip out your immersion blender and blend until smooth. I bet you could do this in a regular blender if you want, or completely skip the blending altogether. But I think blending really brings this fabulously smooth consistency to the jam.

You can add sugar if you like, but even I think this is sweet enough on its own. And I do like my sweet.

Excuse me, I have a peanut butter and jelly jam sandwich to make.

Enjoy!

-Kelly M.

 

 

 

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Comments

    • I just thought the salt would help it boil? Ah sugar. :smile: It's supposed to be bad for you, but it tastes so good! Thanks you so much for stopping by, Averie! :grin:
      Reply

    • Thanks for the question! I haven't tried this recipe without the salt, but I bet it would be absolutely fine if you left it out. I hope this helps!
      Reply

  4. Pectin is a common thickener for jams which is present naturally in some fruits, like oranges for example (which is why most orange marmalade recipes don't call for any pectin because the oranges provide it). Ordinarily Pectin requires sugar in order to activate it's thickening abilities (so the sugar you see in most homemade jam recipes is not being used solely for sweetness). But they do make a form of pectin that doesn't require you to add any sugar to activate. But what people have done is use chia seeds instead of pectin to thicken their homemade preserves. I found a strawberry jam recipe where all you have to do is blend a pound of fresh strawberries (stems removed of course) in your blender along with a couple tablespoons of chia seeds and then put it in a jar and store it overnight in the fridge so that the chia seeds can work their thickening magic. When you're blending the strawberries and chia seeds you can also add sweetener of your choice to taste. This could work with just about any kind of berry or could even use fresh grapes to make grape preserves.
    Reply

  5. I LOVE strawberry jam! It is one of my weaknesses! But right now I am getting sugar-free jam made with Splenda, but I will have to try this since I don't know how healthy that stuff is. Sometimes it is better to just eat sugar than something you don't know much about, like if it can cause certain side effects. Hey I mean if you are eating a healthy diet it is ok to splurge a tad bit every once in awhile. I think it is just the overuse of sugar that is causing health problems. But this looks as natural as is gets! Strawberries and salt! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!!
    Reply

    • I agree that eating habits are all about balance and consistency, Sydney! Sugar is being added to a crazy amount of processed products(Spaghetti sauce? Really?) and many don't realize how much sugar they're actually eating a day. But fruits are a wonderful source of natural, healthy sweetness! No need to feel stuck in a jam with "fruit" jellies when you can make your own real fruit jam-no added sugar required(and no strange, eerie ingredients like polydextrose- the third ingredient in Smucker's sugar-free jam)! Enjoy:-)
      Reply

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