Fresh Strawberry Freezer Jam

Life is almost back to normal at the Bunkycooks house after my hubby’s daughter’s wedding Sunday. Things were thankfully very quiet yesterday as the hubby and I kicked back, relaxed and dozed a time or two after much activity for the past week. Actually, he did most of the kicking back and I washed multiple loads of laundry!

Anyway, I think we have one more night of visitors at the house this week and then I will be off to Camp Blogaway on Friday! I am looking forward to getting away to the mountains of California, learning lots of great skills to make my blog better and best of all – getting to meet so many people that I have come to know in this blogosphere. Of course, it will also be great to not have to cook for a few days, too.

I am afraid to eat looking forward to all the camper food goodies, roasting gourmet s’mores over an open fire and running from the bears having lots of fun with fellow campers! I am excited to do a post or two next week about my adventures out west, but until then, there are a few great food posts to do this week (along with an awesome giveaway starting Thursday)!

I thought that today’s post would exemplify how I am feeling. Really exhausted. Simple and easy. That is it. (Not simple minded…just sort of relaxed!). I am enjoying less complicated dishes and easier to prepare foods (well, most of the time…) while the weather is warm this year. This strawberry jam happens to be one of the best and easiest things I have ever made.

We picked up a couple of boxes of fresh strawberries near the mountains of north Georgia. They pick the strawberries right out back, so it doesn’t get much fresher than that! The whole market smelled of wonderfully ripe strawberries, so of course, I had to purchase way more strawberries than we could possibly eat. Therefore, I decided to make some freezer jam. I used the low sugar pectin (the Sure Jell pink box) because we don’t like things too sweet. I made the jam with a recipe that is right inside the little pectin box. I read some reviews on line and honestly, that recipe is as good as any for making jam. Mash the fruit, boil the pectin, sugar and water together then add the fruit. Voila! Strawberry jam!

After sitting for 24 hours (as the recipe suggests), I still had a few jars that were not jelled completely. It was warm that day, so that was remedied once they were placed in the fridge. (By the way, freezer jam is a softer set jelly, so do not expect it to firm up quite like a regular cooked version.) I then transferred what I was not going to use right away to the freezer. It will hold three weeks in the fridge and up to a year in the freezer. It is also normal for the fruit to separate from the jelly as it sets. Go ahead and stir it before serving to combine the two.

This was so incredibly simple to make! The strawberry jam is just luscious. The berries were so fresh and sweet to begin with, so this truly is the best tasting strawberry jam I have ever had! It is nothing like what you purchase in a jar. The fruit still has the true color of the strawberry and isn’t weird and brown like the jarred jam. You should not miss our on making your own jams and jellies this season while all the fresh berries and fruits are in the markets. It is definitely one of simplest and most rewarding things you can make.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Makes 6 cups

Ingredients:

4 pts. fresh strawberries (4 cups crushed strawberries)
3 cups sugar
1 box Sure Jell fruit pectin (pink box)
1 cup water

Directions:

1. Wash and rinse plastic containers or ball jars that are suitable for freezing (1-2 cup size). You do not have to sterilize the containers for freezer jam, which makes this even easier to prepare. (* My recipe made enough for 8-8 oz. containers.)
2. Wash, dry and hull strawberries. Then crush one cup at a time, using a potato masher. Do not puree. Be sure to leave nice chunks of fruit for the jam.
3. Measure exact amount of fruit into a large bowl.
4. Measure exact amount of sugar into a large saucepan. (Changing the amount will result in jam not setting properly).
5. Stir one box of Sure-Jell pectin into sugar until thoroughly mixed.
6. Stir in 1 cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat.
7. Stir fruit mixture quickly into hot pectin-sugar mixture. Stir one minute or until thoroughly mixed.
8. Pour into prepared containers, leaving 1/2 inch space at top for expansion during freezing; cover.
9. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours until set. Refrigerate for 3 weeks. Otherwise, store in freezer for up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator.

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