Bright and Fruity Strawberry Jam, Your Way
from https://www.seriouseats.com/, Christina Ward
We now have the key ingredients for our strawberry jam: strawberries, sugar, pectin, and lemon juice (if you're using low-sugar pectin). The cool thing is that once we learn a very basic formula—and because we understand the science behind water activity and preservation—we can break free of any specific recipe.
Achieve your jam success with this basic formula.
What's the formula?
For a strawberry jam using regular pectin: 4 cups strawberries + 4 cups sugar + 1/3 cup pectin.
For a strawberry jam made with low-sugar pectin: 4 cups strawberries + 2 cups sugar + 2 tablespoons lemon juice + 1/3 cup low-sugar pectin.
In fact, that's not just the master formula for strawberry jam; that's the master formula for most jams.
Four cups of almost any fruit, when combined with sugar and pectin (again, plus the lemon juice, if you're using low-sugar pectin), will, in the vast majority of cases, yield a beautiful jam. Sure, there are some exceptions here and there, and you can go too far out of bounds in an attempt to be wildly experimental, but for the most part, this formula works. The variations in natural sugar and pectin content from one fruit to the next are slight enough that the overarching ratio will still lead you to success.
Follow my formula and you'll have a jam that comes together quickly and ends up bright and fruity.
Or, use it to your advantage, making substitutions that are guaranteed to work. Here are some suggestions:
- Replace some of the strawberries with other liquids or solids. For example, use 2 cups strawberries with 2 cups dry red wine, 2 cups strawberries with 2 cups Prosecco, 3 cups strawberries with 1 cup ginger beer, or 3 cups strawberries with 1 cup diced rhubarb.
- Replace the granulated sugar with an equal quantity of another sweetener, such as brown sugar, maple syrup, hickory syrup, or honey.
- Replace the lemon juice with an equal quantity of another acid, such as balsamic vinegar, lime juice, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or sherry vinegar.
- Add flavorings without changing other quantities, such as spices like freshly ground black pepper, freshly grated horseradish (it's surprisingly good!), or fresh herbs like minced tarragon.
Another Example: Peach Pie Jam - Peaches/Brown Sugar/2 Tablespoons Lemon juice/2 teaspoons each ground cinnamon and nutmeg.
This classic strawberry jam is built on a very basic formula using low-sugar pectin, which I shared in my primer on preservation. (on Serious Eats)
4 cups (22 ounces; 625 g) roughly chopped hulled strawberries (see notes)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh juice from 1 whole lemon, plus more if needed (omitted if using regular pectin)
2 cups granulated sugar (14 ounces; 400 g) (4 cups if using regular pectin)
1/3 cup powdered low-sugar pectin (1 1/2 ounces; 45 g), such as Ball or Sure-Jell, plus more if needed (see notes)
Combine strawberries and lemon juice in a large nonreactive saucepan and set over medium heat until simmering. Stir in sugar and bring mixture to a full boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a simmer. Stir in pectin until dissolved, return heat to medium-high and bring to a full rolling boil. As soon as mixture reaches a full boil, cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.
To Check the Jam Set: Spoon 1 tablespoon (15ml) jam onto a small dish and allow to cool completely, to room temperature. Run a finger through the jam. If the jam remains separated, it is properly set; if it runs back together, it is not. If not set, add an extra 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon low-sugar pectin, then return to a boil and boil for 1 minute longer. Repeat jam set test until jam is properly set.
Carefully scrape any foam or scum from surface of jam. Transfer jam to clean jars, leaving 1/4 inch space at the top; seal jars. Jam can be refrigerated up to 3 weeks or frozen up to 3 months. If heat-processing jam, process for 8 minutes.
Notes
You can choose how finely to chop the strawberries: Leave them in bigger pieces for a chunkier jam, or chop them up smaller (or even mash them with a potato masher) for a smoother jam.
This recipe is formulated to work with low-sugar pectin; substituting other types of pectin will not work here unless you know how to alter the recipe accordingly. [See the formula above.] Be mindful that one brand of low-sugar pectin, Pomona's, works very differently from the others and will not work here.
Makes 6 to 8 jars
