Homemade freezer jam... pretend you are amazing with this EASY recipe.

My "pride and joy"

I never realized how much jam I would go through in one year until I started packing school lunches.  Holy Moley!  The worst part is the price, if you don’t have a coupon you can easily pay $5 for a small little jar of Smuckers.  It kills me.  So, a few years back my neighbor let me in on a little secret; make your own!

Now, I am not a Suzy Homemaker; not even close.  I hate cleaning house.  I would rather buy new socks than do laundry.  And my car has never felt the slime of soap being washed all over its body.  If I was to get a grade, I would definitely receive an “F” in Domestic Engineering.  However, I can make my own freezer jam.

It is so easy, even my 4 year old made some (with the help of me measuring and reminding him to stop eating the sugar).  And if you can get over all of the sugar that has to be added (it’s scary) and just close your eyes and taste it… it is amazing.  By far the best jam I have ever tried and if you get your strawberries on sale, it’s super cheap.

Now, I prefer freezer jam though many will disagree.  The good part of making freezer jam is that it’s quick and you don’t have to boil all the fruit (we did this once with grapes and part of my stove is still broken).  The downfall is you have to have enough room in your freezer to store it (if you don’t have a freezer for your garage, you should invest in one).  So, if you don’t have room in your freezer you can still make jam it will just be a slightly different process (check the recipe on the pectin you purchase for more details).

So here are my steps on making YUMMY strawberry jam:

The supplies (you don't need the hand smasher if you use a blender or food processor)

1.     Buy the strawberries.  On sale until tomorrow (June 19^th) Ralphs has them on sale for 88 cents a carton.  If they are sold out, ask for a rain check (they may or may not give you this, but it’s worth trying).  I bought 10 cartons and it was enough to do 14 jars (1 pint each) and have a little left over for my kids to eat.

2.    Buy your pectin & jars.  I purchased my stuff at Walmart (because it’s cheap).  I got a 12-pack of 1 pint jars by Mainstays for about $8 (if you already have some, you can just reuse them and buy new lids/sealers).  Then you need to grab the pectin.  I bought two kinds: Sure Jell & Ball.  This will be a personal preference on which you prefer.  The Ball took less steps and less sugar, but the taste wasn’t as good.  The Sure Jell took a LOT more sugar (scary amount) and a few extra steps, but I would hate to see the calorie content.  ** You should buy about 2 small containers (or 1 big) of the Ball for 12 jars or 4-5 boxes of Sure Jell.  

Sure Jell- I prefer this but it has A LOT of sugar

Ball Pectin- not my favorite!

3.    Stock up on your sugar.  You’re going to need it.  One large package will be plenty.

4.    Make sure you wash your jars really good in soapy water

5.    Clean your strawberries, cut off the tops, and smash them.  You can either use a mashed potatoes masher or a blender or a food processor.  Either way, you will want to make sure you leave some chunks.  Jam should always have some chunks. 

These are the strawberries after a few seconds on the "pulse" with my food processor. Under the bubbles are more chunks, not huge but some texture.  Make sure to try and keep some strawberries pieces.

Ball Pectin (Recipe is on the container- this will make about 1-1.5 pints)

1.    Measure out your mashed strawberries (about 1 2/3 cups per pint) and throw them into a large bowl.

2.    In a small bowl mix together your pectin (2 tbsp) with your sugar (2/3 cups).

3.    Pour the sugar/pectin on top of the strawberries and mix together.

Can you find the strawberries?

4.    Pour the mix into a jar (leave about 1/2 an inch from the top), seal the jar, and let sit for about 30 minutes before freezing or eating.

OR

Sure Jell (Recipe in box- this will make about 3 pints)

1.    Measure out your mashed strawberries (2 cups) and throw them into a large bowl.

2.    Pour your TON of sugar on top (4 cups), mix together and let it sit for 10 minutes stirring it occasionally.

Little bit of strawberries a WHOLE lot of sugar

3.    In a small saucepan mix together 1 box of pectin with ¾ cup of water.  Let boil for about a minute.

4.    Pour pectin mixture into the fruit and stir until completely dissolved.

5.    Put into jars (leave about 1/2 an inch from the top), seal, let sit for 24 hours at room temperature, then put in freezer.

My mouth is watering just looking at them

That is all it takes!  If you want to look really fancy, get some chalkboard paint and put it on your jars then you can write something like “Homemade Freezer Strawberry Jam” and put some ribbon around the top and hand them out to your neighbors.  When they stare at you with amazement, just smile and say something like “It was no big deal, I was able to make it in between reorganizing my cabinets, cleaning out the closets, and dusting down the whole house.”  Unless they read this blog, they will never know!    

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