I noticed on Facebook a lot of my friends were making cooked jam this time of year including one of my dearest, the inspiring Cat Can Cook. She made some with her daughter and documented the whole process. So, I knew I had a person to ask if I ran into ‘trouble’. I’m not sure if it is part of the ‘nesting’ phase i’m going through right now, or if I just really wanted to try making Jam.
The local flyer for Canadian Tire had all of their Jam supplies and bottles on sale, so I picked up 1 dozen bernardin 250ml jars and lids and some BERNARDIN® liquid pectin. I went to the website for the directions, as I really had no clue to the process.
BERNARDIN® website states “using Liquid Pectin allows you to make the freshest cooked jam possible, retaining more flavour and nutrition than with any other type of commercial pectin.” So we’ll see how this all works out!
I printed out the directions, and started to wash and cut up the strawberries, then crushed them all. Using a potato masher works best, do not use a blender.
After I was done mashing the strawberries, I placed all the jars in a bigger pot. I didn’t have a boiler, but the size of the jars fit perfectly with 1 inch above the jar’s for boiling. Leaving the jars in the hot water until ready to be filled.
Also at the same time, placing the lids in hot water (not boiling) until time to put them on the filled jars.
I then added all the ingredients into a separate large pot:
4 cups of crushed strawberries
4 tbsp (60ml) Lemon Juice
1 pouch of Bernardin Liquid Pectin
7 cups of granulated sugar
I stirred this vigourously and brought it to a rolling boil, at which time I added 1/2 tsp of real butter to stop the foaming, then adding the liquid pectin. I made sure the mixture boiled for just over a minute then removed from the heat and set aside.
I then removed all the jars from the hot water, placed them on the warm stove, and ladled the jam mixture into each jar, leaving 1/4 inch for headspace. This proved to be very messy.
Then cleaning up the glass around the top, and placing the warmed lids on snuggly, I placed them into the water right away. Once all filled an into the pot, I boiled solid for 10 minutes. This apparently would be different time depending on where you live in the world.
After which I removed the filled jars and let sit on the counter for 24 hours, voila I got some really awesomely sweet strawberry jam!
And of course I couldn’t resist being all Martha Stewart and decorating my jars for gifts!
