I love it when Sydney gets flooded with Queensland strawberries. They are reasonable in price, and I purchase an excess amount of them.
Most get washed, hulled and frozen. I do love my deep freezer. From there they are generally used in my breakfast smoothies. They go straight from the freezer into the blender with coconut juice, perfect.
Of course they get used for all sorts of other dishes, but smoothies seem to be the main one. Really is the ultimate in lazy and quick breakfasts.
I should mention that Sydney grown strawberries seem to be in abundance at the farmers’ markets at present too!
After placing around two kilograms of strawberries in the freezer, I had a light bulb moment. Why am I not making my own strawberry jam with this glut of strawberries on the market?
So off I toddled back to the shops. Okay, I didn’t toddle. I jumped in to the car, drove, and then sauntered to my local green grocer to purchase more strawberries for jam.
Jam is incredibly easy to make. Why we don’t make more jams, relishes and chutneys at home from seasonal produce I don’t know.
The above recipe will produce two cups of soft set jam. When I refer to soft set, it resembles more of a conserve than a ‘jelly’. I love having the larger chunks of strawberries through the jam as well. Completely done for look at texture. If you prefer you can use 700 grams of crushed strawberries, but I liked to see some resemblance of fruit in my jams.
I used Ball pectin as that was in my cupboard at the time. Feel free to use any pectin your little heart desires. It was actually the first time I have used pectin, generally I do it the old fashion way by adding some lemon juice and pith & seeds in a muslin pouch (to be removed once cooked).
Of course the brilliance of making your own jam is you can create any flavour combinations you want. I was thinking of being a little more creative with this recipe. Strawberry and champagne was one idea, and then I had the thought of strawberry and chocolate. I have since discovered that men seem to like their jams straight up, so it was plain old strawberry that was made.
What fruit and other ingredient combinations do you think would be awesome for jam? It doesn’t have to include strawberries. I may borrow your ideas and make them for the blog in the future (full credit to your suggestions of course!)
Sara xxx
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 350 grams strawberries chunkily chopped
- 350 grams strawberries crushed
- 350 grams sugar
- 2 tablespoon pectin I used Ball’s classic
Instructions
- In a medium heavy based saucepan, place strawberries, sugar and pectin. Mix well.
- Over a low heat continue to stir until all the sugar has dissolved.
- Once sugar has dissolved bring mixture up to a soft boil. Cook for around 20 minutes until mixture has reduced and thickened. Be sure to stir the pot every so often to make sure your jam isn’t catching on the bottom and burning.
- To check to see if you jam is at a consistency that you desire. Use a small plate that you have had in the freezer. Place a small dollop of the jam mixture on the frozen plate, give it a minute and see if the consistency is to your liking.
- By soft boiling for 20 minutes, I ended up with a soft set jam.
Helen | Grab Your Fork
Loving the food styling in this post Sara! And I love homemade jams but never had the patience to make it. That's why I stalk all the grandmas at local fetes and markets so I can raid their stash instead 🙂
Sara
Thanks Helen, you grandmother stalker you. Actually that is really clever 😉
Martine @ Chompchomp
What would you suggest to use to make a sugar free jam?
Sara
I once saw a fridge jam Martine that use chia seeds....... But the only thing I can think of is to reduce you fruit for consistency.
Gourmet Getaways
Hi Sara! I'm fond of homemade jams, too! Your strawberry jam looks great!
Gourmet Getaways
milkteaxx
ive only ever made jam once and it was quite a disaster, not sure if ive recovered from it yet. although i do love jam cream and scones!
Sara
Don't look at it as a disaster but as a learning curve. When you feel up to it again, give jam another go, I am sure you will ace it.
Jacq
Never tried making my own jam before but this looks incredible - especially with the scones and cream!
Sara
Awe Thanks Jacq.
Trent @ Food Assault
This sooooooo takes me back to my childhood and makes me miss my Grandma. She was scone and jam queen.
This looks fantastic and could down a few right now with my coffee. Yum!
Sara
Trent, I think you need to cary on your grandma's tradition.
john | heneedsfood
I barely remember the last time I made jam. I thought about stocking up on strawberries when they were in inexpensive abundance, but that never happened. Although I did macerate a few punnets for dessert toppings or crumbles!
Sara
Ooo crumbles!
Gaby
Homemade jam reminds me of my childhood. My auntie used to make a killer carrot + tomato jam back in the day.
Sara
Umm Gaby, I am sure I haven't seen that on your blog? Going to recreate it for us?? Please 🙂
Choc Chip Uru
Your jam looks so delicious, and I trust you - if you say it is not hard, then I have to try it! I am really glad that strawberries are so lush right now 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Sara
Thank you, and yes, I'm loving strawberry season too 🙂
Monique
Yum! Homemade jams are the best! Especially strawberry jam. Glad our strawberries are making their way down south. We have them coming out our ears up here!
Sara
Loving our Queensland cousin's strawberries, keep sending them down!
vegeTARAian
Homemade jam, what a lovely gift that would make! I'm with you, we should absolutely make more goodies ourselves from scratch.
Sara
I sadly don't practice what I preach, well most times. It is something I really want do do more of.