Photos by House of Stills
This pantry staple is easier to make than you probably think! When strawberry season is in full swing, I take full advantage and load up on strawberries to make a huge batch to share with family and friends. Franco’s young cousins ask me for this every single summer and I love that they love it so much – in their words, it’s the best strawberry jam EVER.
The most tedious part of this entire recipe is the washing and trimming of the strawberries – other than that, it’s pretty much fool-proof and while it’s cooking, your house will smell divine! I always say that it smells like a Lipsmacker chapstick (my 90’s girls will know exactly what I mean). I wish I could bottle up the smell!
Feel free to double, triple, even quadruple this recipe, if the size of your pot allows it! Might as well take full advantage of buying a case of strawberries and bottle up that sweet summer goodness to last year-long! I mostly make huge batches of these because I love to share it with people and it keeps well in a pantry year-round. It’s quite literally a way to bottle up summer!
Enjoy! XX
Strawberry Jam
Equipment
- 125 ml Mason jars
Ingredients
- 8 cups fresh summer strawberries washed
- 2.5 cups sugar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Remove the stems from the strawberries and cut in half, lengthwise.
- Reserve one cup of the strawberries and purée in a blender.
- Place the remaining strawberries in a large heavy-bottom pot (I use my Le Creuset French oven).
- Turn on the stove to medium-high heat and mix in the remaining ingredients (including the purée). Stir until well-combined.
- Using a potato masher (or a wooden spoon), crush the strawberries as they cook, until you achieve your desired consistency (I like mine with just a few chunks).
- Bring the whole to a low boil and lower the heat to simmer. Let reduce and thicken for roughly 45 mins, stirring constantly.
- Once thickened (the jam should stick to the your wooden spoon, and drip very slowly), you can begin to jar into cleaned mason jars.
- Jar them HOT and using new caps with fresh seals.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, with the closed jarred jam placed inside, completely submerged. Boil for 10 minutes.
- Turn off the stove, and let cool completely.
- Once cooled, remove from the pot and let rest upside down overnight. Then it is ready to use.
- Once opened, store in the fridge.
