If you are looking for an easy way to make jam or jelly without laboring in the kitchen for hours this is the way to go! My favorite freezer jams happen to be Strawberry and Raspberry. The Sure Jell pectin box includes recipes for all kinds of fruit including apricot, blueberry, cherry, peach, mango, raspberry, blackberry grape, grapefruit, apple, and hot pepper. The best thing about the freezer jam/jelly recipes is they are very quick and easy!
Here’s what I did to make delicous strawberry freezer jam a few weeks ago. First off you need to know what kind of fruit you using and you also need to purchase a Fruit Pectin to know how much fruit you’ll need. An example of Fruit Pectin is Sure Jell-I bought two packages at Walmart for $2.68. Be sure to follow the directions in the package that you buy because each fruit and pectin recipes are different!
Here’s the Strawberry Jam recipe right from the Sure Jell package with a few notes of mine:
1. Wash and rinse plastic containers with tight fitting lids. As you can see in the picture I like to reuse the butter containers. They work great and save money too! I suggest that the containers aren’t too large, 1 to 2 cup containers work great.
2. Discard stems and crush strawberries. Jam should have bits of fruit in it, so I use a potato masher and mash 1 cup at a time. You can use a food processor, but pulse to a very finely chop-DO NOT PUREE.
3. Measure EXACT amount of prepared fruit into a large bowl.
4. Measure EXACT amount of sugar into a separate bowl.
5. Stir sugar into prepared strawberries, mix well. Let stand 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
6. Meanwhile, stir pectin and 3/4 cup water in small saucepan. The pectin starts out lumpy and that’s okay. Bring to a boil on high heat, siring constantly. Boil for 1 minute and remove from heat.
7. Stir pectin mixture into strawberry mixture. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy about 3 minutes. You’ll see a change as you stir and there might be just a few sugar crystals that remain.
8. Pour into prepared containers. Leave 1/2 inch space at the top for expansion during freezing. Cover.
9. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Freeze up to a year. The jam turns out a lot better if you thaw in the refrigerator.
If you want jam with a little less sugar look for the “Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes”. I have tried the Less Sugar recipe and was pleased with the way it turned out. This time around I decided to try Splenda instead of sugar. It didn’t work just like the recipe stated “Altering recipes or ingredients could cause a set failure.” That’s what happened to mine-it’s very runny.
My kids and guest that we have for dinner think this stuff is candy-I guess it practically is with the amount of sugar! The jam adds a delicious flavor to bread, breakfast rolls, pancakes, waffles, and many other things! Enjoy!
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