Strawberry Jam
Cooking is fun! Not the dwarf fortress kind of !!FUN!!, but more traditional. Time wend by since i last made my own jam and strawberries are plenty and sweet right now. In addition: they almost make them self, so if you want to try it yourself, begin here!
You require these items:
- About 1 kg of strawberries
- 500g Jelly Sugar (2:1)
- Enough empty jam jars
First, wash the strawberries, they come with straw and foliage you don’t necessarily want in the jam.
Cut off the stem and quarter the strawberries - bigger ones in more pieces.
Use a big pot with an high edge.
If you are done cutting, start cooking!
Hot, but not the hottest setting you got. No need to burn things down.
An word about the jelly sugar: It contains pectin and citric acid so you don’t need as much Sugar. Two parts fruit to one part sugar is plenty for strawberries, but unripe fruits may need more sugar (1:1) and realy sweet ones can get solid with less (3:1).
That’s what it looks like around here (other brands are surly available). A pinch of lemon juice may help solidify the situation - if not, you may need to add additional jelly sugar. You can always re-heat the jam if it didn’t harden!
But first let the berries get hot and steamy (use a pot lid, i just took the photos without one).
Remember to stir.
They will slowly break down, just wait.
Beware! Strawberries foam up, so don’t go away. Stir & remove the lid. A moist cotton rag should be used to remove the sweet, sweet foam if it does boil over. Don’t ever use synthetic rags - they may melt.
Ready the jars! Old jam jars are perfekt, but everything that you can’t smell in the lid works too (pickled garlic jars may be not that fantastic a choice). Have always more jars at hand as you need.
This is one of the times were you definitely should know where your towel is!
It is one hot, homogeneous mass? Great! Now, add the jelly sugar in small quantities and stir! You may also want to turn up the heat - you add 1/3 mass at room temperature!
After 5 more minutes it should be thicker, darker and ready to be filled in jars. Remove the pot from it’s plate and quickly fill the jars with a ladle.
Be careful with your fingers! This stuff ist very hot and sticky.
Remove spilled jam when it’s still workable.
Close the lids and turn the jars upside down, this will sterilize the insides.
Well, we are done!
Nothing to do but to lick clean the pot. Better wash it fast, while the sugar ist not entirely crystallized.
The jam can last for years.
But i somehow feel, it will not.
Guten Appetit!
