Strawberry Freezer Jam

May is the month for strawberries! We will be celebrating our annual Pungo Strawberry Festival here in Virginia Beach this coming weekend. Thousands will pick fresh strawberries from the fields, nibble on chocolate covered strawberries, sample fresh strawberry pie and jam. My family has been making strawberry jam ever since I can remember! Would you believe me if I told you that you can make Strawberry Freezer Jam in less than 30 minutes? Strawberry Freezer Jam is the easiest, most delicious jam you’ll ever make!

You will find the recipe listed again at the bottom of the post, but I thought I’d break it down for you step by simple step! To make Strawberry Freezer Jam all you need is some fresh strawberries. Don’t worry, you don’t have to pick them yourself to make jam. You can easily use strawberries from the grocery store. You’ll want 2 quarts of sweet and juicy strawberries. Taste them first! Make sure you like them. Great tasting strawberries make exceptional jam.

Wash and de-stem your strawberries. Quarter the large strawberries. Place them in a large bowl and crush. Crush enough strawberries until you have 2 cups of crushed berries.

Time to enter into a sugar coma. To be honest, once I started making jam myself I found that I don’t eat as much of it as I so eagerly used to. In this situation, trust me, ignorance is bliss. Ok, here we go… don’t say I didn’t warn you…. Add 4 cups of sugar. Yep, I said four. Are you still with me?

Let’s add some tartness to all that sweetness we just dumped on our strawberries. Add the juice of half a lemon and stir well. This is my mom’s secret to her jam! It really does make a huge difference and a gives the jam a fresh, bright flavor. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.

You will need one package of fruit pectin. This is the ingredient that makes the jam set up.

Dissolve pectin in 3/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and boil one minute. Pour the boiling pectin over crushed strawberries and stir well.

Fill your containers 3/4 full. Be sure not to overfill the containers because the jam will expand some in the freezer. Feel free to use glass jars, plastic jelly containers, or even small zip-lock freezer bags. Wipe off any spills from the edges of your jars with a damp cloth and screw on your lids.  If you are using freezer bags, then try to press out excess air before sealing. Allow it to sit on your counter for 24 hours and then place in your freezer until you are ready to use it.

 

Strawberry Freezer Jam Recipe

2 cups of crushed fresh strawberries

Juice of half a lemon

4 cups granulated sugar

1 envelope of fruit pectin

3/4 cup water

Directions: Wash and de-stem your strawberries. Quarter large strawberries. In a large bowl, crush the strawberries until you have 2 full cups of crushed strawberries. Add 4 cups of sugar and juice from 1/2 a lemon. Stir well and allow to sit 10 minutes. Dissolve pectin in 3/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil one minute. Pour boiling pectin over crushed strawberries and stir well. Fill each jar 3/4 with the jam. Wipe off any spills from the edges of jar and screw on the lid. Allow to sit for 24 hours then place in the freezer to store until ready for use. Recipe makes approximately 7 (8oz.) jars of jam.

You can store the jam in the freezer for 6 –9 months. When you are ready to use your strawberry jam, simply allow it to thaw in the fridge or on your counter for 15 minutes. After opening your strawberry freezer jam jar, be sure to store the left overs in the fridge. Once you see how you made your own homemade strawberry jam in less than half an hour you might never purchase store bought jam again!

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Check out more recipes on the Kim’s Kitchen tab up at the top of the page!

Kim

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