Wanna Can Some Jam?
Strawberry jam to be exact! I love canning food. It is so empowering to take a delicious piece of food, homegrown or from the farmers market and preserve it at its finest. But canning to many can be super intimidating. When really, it’s not. If you missed our article on food preservation for beginners check it out here. It will help remove the intimidation.
Today we will be preserving some delicious strawberry jam. Now, back in the day rule of thumb was a cup of white sugar to a cup of fruit. That just seems a little intense. When you have a pure piece of fruit that is organically grown with love and picked at its prime, there really shouldn’t be any reason to cover up it’s natural sweetness with processed white sugar. This recipe we will be using honey and the taste ratio will be more fruit than sweetener.
Jams, jellies and other high acidic fruits require the water bath method.
Water bath method is using boiling water to process your jars. Usually you can find a water bath canner at walmart, target or even the grocery store. Or you can just click here and bam get one delivered right to your door.
Table of Contents
- Wanna Can Some Jam?
- How to Make & Can Strawberry Jam
- Ingredients:
- Instructions:
- What Happens If a Jar Doesn’t Seal?
Quick Word About Pectin
I used to skip out on adding pectin when making jam in the past, which pectin is just a natural starch found in the walls of fruits and vegetables. This helps naturally thicken up jams and jellies. I did use it in this recipe and was pleased with the results.
What is The Difference Between Jams, Jellies and Preserve?
The difference between all three is really the amount of fruit that is actually used to make it.
Jelly
Jelly is made with the juice of a fruit and usually requires pectin. It has a very smooth gelatinous like consistency.
Jam
Jam has small mashed up chunks of fruit still in it and can be made with sugar or other sweeteners. Pectin is also an option as well.
Preserves
Preserves are made with using most of the fruit cut up in slightly larger chunks compared to jam. Typically preserves are made with sugar.
How to Make & Can Strawberry Jam
Ingredients:
5 cups of strawberries
1 cup of honey
6 tablespoons of pectin
1/4 cup bottled lemon juice
Tbsp of vinegar
Instructions:
Start up your water bath canner first thing. It’s a big pot and takes a while for it to come to a boil. Also, be sure to lift the rack inside your canner and hook it so it stays up, for later use before you start to boil your water.
Next, place a small plate in the freezer.
This is an old technique used to determine if your jam is at the right consistency and ready to be canned.
Next, wash and de-stem your strawberries.
Now, you can either throw whole or cut up strawberries in a sauce pan and use a masher to mash them up or you can puree your strawberries. I prefer to use a masher because we enjoy small chunks of fruit.
Now, add in your lemon juice and gradually stir in your pectin.
Once your strawberries come to a slight boil, add in your honey. Bring to a boil that cannot be stirred down.
Next, remove the scum from your strawberry jam.
See now, aren’t you glad I explained what scum is first, now you’re not scratching your head wondering what it is!
At this point, the water bath should be coming close to a boil.
Place your jars inside your pot and allow to heat for 10 minutes. This will help prevent thermal shock. Thermal shock is when you take hot food, put it in a cool jar and then place that jar in hot boiling water. The glass goes through too many temperature changes and will crack open.
Wash your lids and rings with warm soapy water and rinse well.
Once you got a boil in your jam pot that can’t be stirred down, take the plate out of the freezer and put a small spoonful of jam on it and place back in freezer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, run your finger through the jam on the plate, if it gels up then it is ready to be canned. If it is still somewhat liquid then it needs to be cooked down further.
We are going to work with one jar at a time.
This will ensure our jars stay hot when we fill them with hot jam. Take a hot jar out of the heated water carefully. Place your canning funnel over the jar and fill those bad boys up with jam, leaving a quarter inch of headspace. Once you filled that jar place it gently on the lifted rack in your canner until you have completed all jars.
Using a paper towel with some vinegar on it, gently wipe the rim of the jar.
Not wiping the jar rims may result in the canning process to fail. If any sort of food residue is left the lid will not seal properly.
Place seal and ring on and tighten only finger tight. ***Do not over tighten.
Now gently drop your rack down bring back up to a boil, put lid on and process your jars for 10 minutes.
Once your 10 minute timer goes off turn your heat off and allow jars to sit for an additional 5 minutes.
This will just allow your jars settle and begin to lower in temperature.
Take your jars out using your jar lifter, place jars on a towel and do not touch for 24 hours.
This allows the jars to properly seal. Hopefully you get to hear the sweet sound of a delicate BING throughout the day. That sound, my friends, tells you all that sweating you just did in the kitchen was all worth it.
Allowing your jars to sit for a full 24 hours gives them time to seal properly. Once 24 hours is up, remove the rings, wipe down your jars if needed, label and date and then store in a cool dark pantry.
If your jars have white residue from hard water after processing, spray a paper towel with vinegar and wipe jars down.
How to Make & Can Strawberry Jam
Equipment
- 1 Water Bath Canner
- Canning Utensils
Ingredients
- 5 cups Strawberries
- 1 cup Honey
- 6 tbsp Pectin
- 1/4 cup Bottled Lemon Juice
- 1 tbsp Vinegar
Instructions
- Start up your water bath canner first thing. It's a big pot and takes a while for it to come to a boil. Also, be sure to lift the inside rack in your canner and hook it so it stays up, for later use before you start to boil your water.
- Next, place a small plate in the freezer. This is an old technique used to determine if your jam is at the right consistency and ready to be canned.
- Then wash and de-stem your strawberries. Now, you can either throw whole or cut up strawberries in a sauce pan and use a masher to mash them up or you can puree your strawberries. Now, add in your lemon juice and gradually stir in your pectin.
- Once your strawberries come to a slight boil, add in your honey. Bring to a boil that cannot be stirred down.
- Next, remove the scum. See note above if needed.
- At this point, the water bath should be coming close to a boil. Place your jars inside your pot and allow to heat for 10 minutes.
- Wash your lids and rings with warm soapy water and rinse well.
- Once you got a boil in your jam pot that can't be stirred down, take the plate out of the freezer and put a small spoonful of jam on it and place back in freezer for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, run your finger through the jam on the plate, if it gels up then it is ready to be canned. If it is still somewhat liquid then it needs to be cooked down further.
- We are going to work with one jar at a time. This will ensure our jars stay hot when we fill them with hot jam. Take a hot jar out of the heated water carefully. Place your canning funnel over the jar and fill those bad boys up with jam, leaving a quarter inch of headspace. Once you filled that jar place it gently on the lifted rack in your canner until you have completed all jars.
- Using a paper towel with some vinegar on it, gently wipe the rim of the jar. Not wiping the jar rims may result in the canning process to fail. If any sort of food residue is left the lid will not seal properly.
- Place seal and ring on and tighten only finger tight. ***Do not over tighten.
- Now gently drop your rack down bring back up to a boil, put lid on and process your jars for 10 minutes.
- Once your 10 minute timer goes off turn your heat off and allow jars to sit for an additional 5 minutes. This will just allow your jars settle and begin to lower in temperature.
- Take your jars out using your jar lifter, place jars on a towel and do not touch for 24 hours. This allows the jars to properly seal. Hopefully you get to hear the sweet sound of a delicate BING throughout the day. That sound my friends tells you all that sweating you just did in the kitchen was all worth it.
What Happens If a Jar Doesn’t Seal?
If you pull a jar from the canner and notice that it never sealed, you can either throw that jar in the fridge and enjoy or you can do the process all over again using a brand new lid.
Boom son, you just canned yourself some sweet delicious strawberry jam.
If preserving food excited you as much as it does me then head over here to ferment yourself some delicious sauerkraut!
Until next time…
I would love to see a demonstration
Simply delicious