How to Make Jam, Day Two – The Day We Made Strawberry Jam!

What you will need:

450g Jam Sugar

450g Granulated Sugar

150ml of freshly squeezed lemon juice (5 medium sized lemons)

950g Fresh Strawberries

Preserving Pan

Long wooden spoon

Funnel

Pestle (pestle & mortar)

4 x 212ml Jam Jars

4 x wax paper preserving discs (the same circumference as the jam jar top)

It’s Day Two of Jam Week and today we’re actually going to make some of the good stuff.

*To begin with have all of your weighed ingredients and equipment out in front of you (you can find a weight conversion chart here) If you haven’t made jam before (and even if you have) then this will stand you in good stead.*

Juice your lemons until you have 150ml of fresh lemon juice; then set aside.
Wash and hull your strawberries. Hulling is what I’m doing in the top picture.

Measure out 225g of the strawberries and 225g of the granulated sugar and pour into the preserving pan.
Using a pestle, pound the strawberries until the mixture turns into a pulp, if you have any stubborn strawberry lumps that won’t squish use a fork or a potato masher.
Gently simmer the pulp mixture for 5-6 minutes on a gentle heat stirring continuously. The pulp will act as a syrupy juice, which in turn allows the rest of the fruit to macerate and boil in.

Pour the remaining strawberries, sugars and lemon juice into the pan and stir gently until combined.
Turn the heat up full and let the jam boil for a further 12 minutes, stirring regularly. (Try not to let any of the pesky strawberries stick to the bottom of the pan!)

After approximately twelve minutes and when the jam is boiling away nicely it will reach what is called the setting point. This basically means that it goes from being a liquid to something that more resembles Jam. You could say that it is more ‘set’ than a liquid is.

Some like to use a jam thermometer, but I find that a great trick to test if the jam has cooked for long enough is to pour a drop onto a chilled serving spoon or plate, leave it for around a minute and then poke it with your finger or the back of a teaspoon. If the jam feels firm (ish) and it crinkles slightly (like suntanned skin) as you poke it, it is ready. If it is too runny, give it another couple of minutes on the stove.

The jam is now ready to be poured in to the jars.

The jam jars will need to be sterile before you pour the jam into them. An easy way to do this is to pop them into a warm oven for 10minutes, alternatively you could boil them in a pan of boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Once the jars have been sterilized and are still warm you can use the funnel to decant the jam from the preserving pan into the jars.

As soon as you have filled the first jar with jam, moisten (with a little water) one of the wax paper discs and place it onto the rim of the jar with the wet side facing up. This will act as a further barrier against bacteria that will spoil your jam when it is stored.
When the disc is in place secure the lid tightly and allow to cool; repeat this process with the other three jars.
Place in a cool, dark spot.

We used four 212ml jars and the above quantities will fill each of the jars perfectly with the jam.

Do you want to see how we dressed them up?