Strawberry Jam

I adore fresh strawberries in the Summer and with a minimal amount of effort you can bottle the deliciousness so in the depths of Winter, you can call up memories of sunshine and long days.

You need lovely, ripe fruit, to make the jam.  I feel more smug if I have handpicked the berries but if you don’t have anywhere handy you can pick your own, or you don’t have the time, you can buy ripe strawberries from the supermarket and use these – no one except you will know the difference.

This recipe makes roughly 8-10 jars (approximately 2.5 litres) of jam. You also need a very large pot to cook the jam in.  My large le Creuset casserole dish was not quite big enough to allow the jam to boil without overflowing so I halved the mixture and used two casserole dishes.  Of course, you could halve the recipe instead.

You need to sterilise the jars immediately before you pour the hot jam into them and can do this one of three ways:

• in the dishwasher: Remove the lids from the jars and put lids and jars on the top rack of the dishwasher and run a hot wash.  Don’t put in any detergent.  Time the cycle so that it finishes when your jam will be ready so that you can put the jam straight into the warm jars.
  
• in the oven: Preheat the oven to 170°C. Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water, but don’t dry them.  Stand them upside down on a roasting tray while they’re still wet and then pop the tray into the oven for about 15 minutes. Ladle the hot jam into the hot jars. Cover the jars with their lids or top with wax paper and a piece of cellophane secured tightly with an elastic band.
• in boiling water:  Remove the lids.  Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water.  Place the jars in a deep pot and cover with hot water. Bring the water to the boil and boil the jars for 15 minutes from the time steam emerges from pot. Turn off the heat and let the jars stand in hot water.  Just before filling them, invert jars onto a kitchen towel to dry. (The jars should be filled while still hot.) Sterilise the lids in boiling water for 5 minutes.

1. Put the strawberries into a very large heavy based saucepan (there needs to be plenty of space as the jam bubbles up quite a lot).  Using a potato masher, squash and mash the strawberries until they have become pulpy.  You don’t want any whole strawberries or very large pieces in the finished jam.
   
2. Put a small flat plate into the freezer.
3. Mix in the jam sugar and gradually heat the mixture until it comes to the boil.  (If you don’t have a very large pot and if you are making the full quantity you might want to split the mixture into two pots so that it doesn’t overflow when it is boiling). Boil for 10 minutes.
    
4. Drop a little of the hot jam onto the cold plate and leave it for a few seconds.  If when you push your finger through the jam it forms “wrinkles”, the jam is cooked enough.  If not, return the plate to the freezer, continue boiling the jam and repeat the process after a further five minutes.  (you may need to repeat this cycle of plate in the freezer/boiling/testing at 5 minute increments a couple of times until the jam is ready).
   
5. When you can see the jam wrinkle turn off the heat.  Skim and discard any white scum that has formed on the top of the pot.
   
6. Ladle or spoon the jam into the sterilised jars. Screw the lids on or cover the pots with a piece of waxed paper and fasten with an elastic band.
   
   

Delicious on hot buttered toast, scones, pikelets, pancakes or even on top of ice-cream.