I'm sharing how to make a very simple homemade strawberry jam. Enjoy it in many ways with bread, yogurt, scones, ice cream, cakes, tarts, and a lot more!
❤️ I love this strawberry jam because:
- You only need 3 ingredients (No pectin needed!)
- The steps are very simple.
- It is a great way to consume not-so-great strawberries (such as hard ones, not-so-sweet ones, or a little bit mushy strawberries.)
- It tastes much better than store-bought strawberry jam.
🍓 In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:
- How to sterilize the jars for any jam
- My favorite ratios for strawberry jam
- How to store it
- How to judge if the jam is thickened enough
Jump to:
📌 3 Simple Ingredients To Make Strawberry Jam
3 Ingredients:
- Strawberries
- Wash strawberries and dry them completely beforehand.
- Granulated sugar
- Sugar helps to thicken the jam.
- It also works as a preservative.
- Lemon juice
- Pectins in lemon juice help to thicken the jam a little bit more.
- It also helps to brighten the color of the jam.
📌 5 Steps To Make Strawberry Jam
- Cut strawberries into cubes.
- Mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot and heat them at medium heat.
- Constantly mix while heating.
- Once it starts boiling, lots of foams start coming out. Remove them with a spoon.
- The foams keep coming out, so you do not need to try taking all of them out. It'll eventually calm down as the jam starts getting thicker.
- Remove from the heat when you can visually see all of them below:
- 1. The color is very dark red,
- 2. You don't see any more foams on the surface and,
- 3. The jam looks very clear and shiny.
- When you see 1-3, the jam is thickened enough! You can also check by dropping the hot jam on a cold plate/tray, waiting for a minute, touching it (or drawing a line), and seeing if it's thickened enough.
- And Immediately pour the jam into the jars. Close the lid tightly and flip it to sterilize any possible bacterias that may enter the air. Enjoy the warm jam or chill it in the fridge.
📌 How To Make Strawberry Jam (with More Tips & Images)
Now, let me share detailed tips on each step that are crucial for making strawberry jam successfully.
Preparation:
- Sterilize jars by boiling them for more than 5 minutes.
- Wash strawberries and let them dry completely.
👩🏻🍳 Try not to wipe them with towels to keep them as clean as possible. Let them dry in the air.
💬 You might want to skip the sterilization if you want to consume it within the family. It is highly recommended especially when you are selling or giving it to someone.
Step 1: Cut strawberries into cubes.
I like to cut them into cubes since I personally do not like big chunks of strawberries in my jam. (I hope you'll try it first and see if you want to change the size next time!)
Step 2: Mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot and heat them at medium heat.
Roughly mix them.
Step 3: Once it started boiling, remove the foam with a spoon.
💡 The foam keeps coming out, so you do not need to try taking all of them out completely. It'll eventually calm down.
Step 4: Remove from the heat when it gets thickened enough.
As you can see in the image below, the foam slowly disappears. That means the jam started getting thickened more. Continue heating if you can still see it!
Remove from the heat when you can visually see:
- The color turned into a very dark red,
- You don't see any more foam on the surface, and
- The jam looks very clear and shiny.
How it looks:
The look after it stopped boiling:
You can also check by dropping the hot jam on a cold plate/tray, waiting for a minute, touching it (or drawing a line), and seeing if it's thickened enough.
Step 5: Pour the jam into jars. Close the lid and flip it to sterilize.
💬 Close the lid tightly so that the jam does not come out!
📌 How To Store Strawberry Jam
What's the shelf-life of strawberry jam?
Store it in air-tight containers such as glass jars. In the refrigerator, you can store it for at least a month. Once it is opened, I recommend consuming it within a few weeks. Or you can store it in the freezer for up to about 6 months.
How can I make the shelf-life of strawberry jam longer?
By increasing the amount of sugar that works as a preservative, you can store the jam for a longer time. Today, I added 50% of the strawberry amount. With 30%, for example, the shelf life gets shorter.
Note: The jam can be stored in the refrigerator for longer than one month; such as 6 months. But I chose not to advise the length here because that is only when we could handle it in the best care and environment. In real life, the cleanliness of our kitchens and tools all differ for each person; And any small amount of bacteria could go in as we work in home kitchens. Just keep in mind to keep them clean to make the shelf-life longer!
📌 Uses For Strawberry Jam
Enjoy the delicious homemade jam in many ways!
Here are some of my favorites;
- As a classic jam sandwich
- With plain yogurt
- With Ice cream
- As a filling of strawberry cakes or cupcakes
- With scones or biscuits
- As a filling for fruit tart with pastry cream
- As a topping or filling for cheesecake
- As a seasonal gift (I love that it's so easy to transport it!)
Let me know how you enjoyed it at home! 🍓😊
📌 Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can! But I recommend not omitting it completely since lemon juice helps to thicken the jam a little bit more.
It is possible but I recommend not reducing it too much since it helps to thicken the jam. (You can reduce it, especially if you don't mind looser jam!)
Yes! Thaw it in the fridge overnight.
Yes, you can! Just cook longer with more batches. Use a bigger pan to finish the cooking process faster.
📌 VIDEO: Strawberry Jam
Check out this video to see how you can make strawberry mini cheesecakes using the strawberry jam!
In the video, you can learn how to make the strawberry jam visually so that you can have a deeper understanding of the steps I shared in this post!
Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it 😉
💬 If you loved this recipe, please share your feedback on this post! I always love to hear how you enjoyed it at home with your friends and family.
📌 Printable Recipe
Homemade Strawberry Jam
Equipment
- Knife
- Pot
- Spatula
- Jar or any container you want to store the jam in One batch of the recipe fills 2 5-6 oz mason jars.
Ingredients
- 15.9 oz Strawberries (Cut into cubes) 1 pound
- 7.9 oz Granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp Lemon juice Add more or less as you like.
Instructions
Prep:
- Sterilize jars by boiling them for more than 5 minutes. Let them dry completely.
- Wash strawberries and let them dry completely.
Jam:
- Cut strawberries into cubes.15.9 oz Strawberries (Cut into cubes)
- Mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot and heat them at medium heat.Constantly mix while heating.7.9 oz Granulated sugar, 3 tablespoon Lemon juice
- Once it starts boiling, lots of foams start coming out. Remove some of them with a spoon or something else.* The foams keep coming out, so you do not need to try taking all of them out completely. It'll eventually calm down as the jam starts getting thicker
- Remove from the heat when you can visually see all of them below:1. The color is very dark red and,2. You don't see any more foams on the surface and,3. The jam looks very clear and shiny.That means the jam is thickened enough! You can also check by dropping the hot jam on a cold plate/tray, waiting for a minute, touching it (or drawing a line), and seeing if it's thickened enough.
- And Immediately pour the jam into the disinfected jars. Close the lid tightly and flip it to sterilize possible bacterias that may enter the air.Enjoy the warm jam or chill it in the fridge.
Notes
How to store it:
Store it in air-tight containers such as glass jars. In the refrigerator, you can store it for at least a month. Once it is opened, I recommend consuming it within a few weeks. Or you can store it in the freezer for up to about 6 months.Nutrition
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