Strawberry Jam

A foolproof and easy Strawberry Jam recipe with step-by-step photos. Tips on how to make strawberry jam and which sugar to use when making jam.

Strawberry Jam Recipe

A homemade strawberry jam is hard to beat. When strawberries are at their peak and, hence, cheap to buy, it’s hard not to buy a large tray of them to feast on as a sweet summer dessert.

I love to buy our strawberries from the weekly farmers’ markets where the produce is always fresher and better quality. In fact, I find that the strawberries are often just at their peak when I buy them, which means they need to be devoured almost right away (usually not a problem!).

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Despite tripling the #strawberry plants on our balcony this year (we have 3 window containers just for #strawberries), we yield on average 2 strawberries a day. That's one strawberry per child, per day ? So it's still necessary to buy a punnet every few days ??? #eatlittlebird #elbtravels #mytinyatlas #passionpassport #goopgo #farmersmarketinspo #bürkliplatz #zurich #zürich #switzerland #visitzurich #inlovewithswitzerland #f52farmstand #morningslikethese #swissblog #swissblogger #seemyzurich #huffposttaste #yahoofood #buzzfeast #foodandwine #eattheworld #eattherainbow #foods4thought #inseason #inseasonnow #f52grams #grownyc

A post shared by Thanh Berthou (@eatlittlebird) on Jul 27, 2016 at 7:32am PDT

Small Batch Strawberry Jam

Quite often, the vendor will give me an extra punnet or two, usually because I am a frequent customer, but most likely because they know they can’t sell overripe strawberries the next day.

On such occasions, if we are unable to eat all of the strawberries in time, I like to make a small batch of strawberry jam.

Making jam in small batches is a quick and relatively easy process, and there is just something so reassuring about having a jar of homemade jam in the fridge.

Which Sugar to Use For Making Jam

I prefer to make jam using normal granulated sugar or caster sugar.

However, you can also use sugar with pectin added (also called “jam sugar“), and I find this sugar is most useful when you are making jam with fruit which contain low amounts of natural pectin.

Whenever I use jam sugar, I find that the resulting jam is often thicker than when made with normal sugar. However, it does take the stress out of whether the jam will set or not.

How to Make Jam Set

Pectin is the substance in fruit which makes the jam set by thickening the mixture. Some fruits contain more pectin than others, and lemon juice is often added to most jams as a way of adding pectin.

High-pectin fruits include:

• Apples
• Blackcurrants
• Redcurrants
• Gooseberries
• Raspberries
• Plums
• Cranberries
• Oranges
• Lemons
• Apricots

Low-pectin fruits include:

• Blackberries
• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Rhubarb
• Peaches
• Cherries

If you are using low-pectin fruits in your jam, you should also add some lemon juice or perhaps mix in some high-pectin fruit to help your jam to set. Alternatively, using jam sugar with low-pectin fruit works well.

How to Make Strawberry Jam

I was once looking for a no-fuss and easy strawberry jam recipe and came across one in Bake by Rachel Allen.

Rachel Allen’s strawberry jam recipe seemed a little unusual at first, in that it requires you to first warm the sugar in the oven before adding it to the cooked fruit. This is to help keep everything at a consistent temperature and to speed up the cooking process.

While the sugar is heating in the oven, hull the strawberries and roughly chop them, especially if they are large.

To make any jam, you first need to cook down the fruit until it has softened to your liking. If you want a relatively smooth jam, cook the fruit until you have a smooth purée. If you like small bits of fruit in your jam, cook the jam for slightly less time.

Once you add the warm sugar to the cooked fruit, this will start the process of turning the mixture into a jam, during which time the fruit mixture will start to thicken.

The jam is ready when a thermometer reads 105°C (220°F), but sometimes it can be ready before it reaches this temperature, so I recommend just keeping a close eye on the jam.

You need to stir the jam frequently so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan and burn, and you will notice that the jam will thicken substantially after boiling rapidly for about 10 minutes.

If you don’t have a thermometer, you can use the jam plate test, also called the cold plate test or wrinkle test.

While you are making the jam, simply place 3 or 4 small plates in the freezer.

To test if your jam is ready, place a spoonful of hot jam onto the cold plate, and use your finger (or a teaspoon) to run a line through the blob of jam.

If the jam starts to fill the line, this means that the jam is still too liquid and runny, and that it is not yet ready.

If the line remains and the jam does not fill the gap, then the jam has reached setting point and is ready.

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Update

This recipe was first published on 19 September 2018. It has been updated with more comprehensive recipe notes.