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In my world jam is the fifth food group…there is no such thing as too much jam!! I think that is because I grew up eating my Swedish grandma’s homemade raspberry jam. My mum and I have also made mind-melting strawberry jam and our sweet NaDo and cousin, Nancy, always had some heavenly jam in their homes. For those that know our family, NaDo is Kristina’s Nana and her inspiration for this blog; my family called her NaDo as a short name for Nana Dorothy.
As a kid I don’t recall eating store bought jam and I still avoid it for my family. We have a local farmer’s market in the Bow Valley that I can catch on Wednesdays in Banff and Thursdays in Canmore. It is hard for me to pass by flats of red ripe strawberries…not the kind that you find at the supermarket, but the small sweet ones whose heavenly aroma beckons you to them. And such was the case two weeks ago. After stopping by the Canmore market for just a few items, Madeline and I ended up walking away with a huge flat of strawberries, 12 pints in all. And thus the afternoon was set…a homemade strawberry jam making session was in my immediate future.
I make this jam low in sugar and I replace the pectin with agar. Don’t know what agar is? You’re not alone. It is derived from algae and is a gelling substance. I replace the pectin with agar to minimize my use of sugar and to avoid a GMO substance. Commercial pectin requires 55-85% of the jam to be sugar. Yes, that means more sugar than fruit in your jam. In the recipe below, I would have required 12 cups of sugar…that’s right, 12! I opted to use agar and less sugar and accept that my jam may not be as thick as with pectin (pectin mixed with lots of sugar is what creates the gelling effect). I ended up with a lovely, thick consistency and used only 3 cups of unrefined cane sugar. Best of all, it tasted just like those sweet strawberries smelled…amazing! I did my grandma proud!
What You’ll Need
- 8 lbs. strawberries (about 12 pints)
- 3 cups unrefined cane sugar
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 16 tbsp. agar (2 tbsp. of agar per pound of strawberries)
Follow These Steps
8 lbs. of fruit yields approximately 15 half-pints of jam so make sure you have your jars ready. To ensure my jars seal I don’t reuse my snap lids so be sure to pick up some new ones at your local grocery or hardware store. Prepare your jars and lids by running them through the dishwasher. I then take my jars and place them in a roasting pan in the oven at 250. I take my lids and canning tools and put into boiling water to sterilize.
Clean the strawberries thoroughly and then remove the hulls (I use a spoon to do so as I find it works better than a knife with less waste). Put them in a big flat-bottomed pot. Add the sugar and lemon juice to the strawberries and mash to your desired consistency. I use a potato masher as I like chunky jam.
Turn on the heat and bring to a boil stirring constantly. Turn down the heat and add agar gradually and stir well as you don’t want the agar to clump. Use your masher or immersion blender to mash the softened fruit to get the consistency you desire. I use an immersion blender at this point to puree only half of my softened fruit so that I retain the chunks of fresh strawberries.
Turn the heat back up and return to a gentle boil. Stir the mixture consistently for 20 minutes, yes twenty! making sure you scrape the bottom to avoid scorching your jam. Keep stirring!!
At the end of 20 minutes, you are ready to fill your hot jars from the oven. Be careful as hot jam is like hot glue…trust me, I learned the hard way! Use a canning funnel to fill your jars to 1/2” below the top. Wipe off the rim of your jar, and tightly screw on the lids. Water bath process your filled jars for 10 minutes (I use the hot water and pot that my lids were in; remove some of the water, place your jars in and let gently boil for 10 minutes, do not cover the jars in water). And now wait patiently for your lids to pop. Do not be tempted to touch the top as you may get a ‘false’ pop.
I hope you enjoy this homemade strawberry jam as much as we do! xo Jacqui
