I love strawberry jam. But what I love more is when you get a container for $1 each and can make 17 jam jars plus some for the fridge all for $10. From this to this… I’d say it’s well-worth the effort. This easy recipe will make great strawberry jam to fill the pantry and be ready for countless PB&J sandwiches, slathered on biscuits, or made into homemade pop-tarts.

What’s the difference between jelly and jam?

Plain and simple: the difference between jelly and jam is that jam has some solids while jelly does not.

Do I need to use pectin when making jam?

In general, no you do not need to use pectin when making jam. In this instance I chose to use the recipe that called for pectin because strawberries are a considered a low-pectin fruit and I also wanted to make sure results are fairly consistent. I figure with adding pectin I can have a pretty reliable outcome so it’s worth the extra add for little extra effort and that’s my jam.

HOW TO MAKE AN EASY STRAWBERRY JAM

I used the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving ‘Strawberry Jam’ with pectin recipe. The book does include a recipe without pectin if that’s more up your alley and even a ‘low or no sugar added’ option, too.

I doubled this recipe because I had so many strawberries to work with. And yes, when you’re making jam and get to the part where you add sugar you wonder if you have any fruit involved or if it’s just there as a slight taste enhancer for the enormous amount of sugar. I promise, you’ll mostly forget it is there when you’re done and you’ll be enjoying the strawberry jam like it’s sugar-free.

Strawberry Jam

This is from the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving. This recipe uses pectin but the book does also have a recipe for strawberry jam without pectin.

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Servings: 8 half-pint jars

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

2 quarts strawberries about 4-5 pounds
6 tbsp Ball Classic Pectin
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh or bottled
7 cup sugar

Method

Prep: Wash strawberries under cold running water; drain. Remove stems and caps from strawberries. Crush strawberries one layer at a time using a potato masher.
Cook: Combine strawberries, pectin, and lemon juice in a large saucepan, stirring to blend in pectin. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Add sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off foam, if necessary.
Fill: Ladle hot jam into a hot jar, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Clean jar rim. Center lid on jar and adjust band to fingertip-tight. Place jar on the rack elevated over simmering water (180℉) in boiling-water canner. Repeat until jars are filled.
Process: Lower the rack into simmering water. Water must cover jars by 1 inch. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner and bring water to a rolling boil. Process half-pint jars 10 minutes. Turn off heat and remove cover. Let jars cool 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner; do not retighten bands if loose. Cool 12 hours. Check seals. Label and store jars.