How to Make Super Easy Strawberry Jam

How to Make Your Own Strawberry Jam - Really Easy Method

It's strawberry time which is one of my favorite times of the year. Although jam is not a traditional barbecue dish, it is good topped on pork loin or pork chops. Also my son and buddies were wanting this recipe, so I wanted to share one of our family favorites today.

After we’ve had our fill of raw berries, berries over ice cream, and pies, we usually have a few berries left over. I suppose we could freeze berries, but they don’t freeze as well as some fruits. A better option for our family has been to make jam.

I really hate all-day kitchen jobs and big hot canners, so I go with a quick and easy microwave jam recipe. In less than a half hour, I whip up a few small jars of jam that taste like heaven. If you’ve only used store jams, then you’ll be surprised at how much better homemade tastes. Just thinking about that strawberry jam in our refrigerator makes me want to toast a couple of slices of bread.

If you have some extra berries going begging, then try out this tasty strawberry jam recipe.

Super Easy Strawberry Jam

• 2 cups of strawberries capped and cut up
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pectin

How to Make Easy Strawberry Jam

Pour the sugar over the berries and let sit for 10 minutes. Mash well. Stir in pectin. Microwave high for 4 minutes. Then, microwave medium for 6 minutes. Pour in hot glasses or cups. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Keeps for 2-3 months in fridge.

Tips for the Kitchen Challenged (So You Will Be Sure to Rock Your Homemade Jam)

If you’ve never bought pectin, it’s what makes the jam set up or jell. It comes in boxes like pudding or jello. Around here, it’s with canning supplies on the isle with baggies and tin foil. The brand name that is most common is Sure-Jell.

Use a big glass or microwave safe bowl to mix this up. If you’re familiar with the Tupperware three bowl set or the standard glass bowls with three bowls, you’ll need to biggest size. The bowl looks too big, but this stuff bubbles up really high when microwaved.

The sugared berries want to slide around, so it’s hard to mash with a fork or whatever you usually use to mash. A biscuit cutter works really well. Again, the big bowl helps. The mix is shallow so that you can use the biscuit cutter.

To heat the glasses, take a metal cake pan (8 x 8 or 9 x 9) and put that on top of a stove eye with about a quarter inch of water. Lay your glasses in that with the water heated to where it has lots of little bubbles on top but not boiling up. Roll the glasses around so all sides are heated and sterilized. With the small amount of water, you can use a oven mitt to roll and then to pull the glasses out.

The glasses I use are the little ones that hold the dried beef. They are like little juice glasses. The recipe makes 5 of these filled to about a ½ inch from the top.

To pour into these small holes, you may want to pour the hot jam into a pitcher. It’s a little hard to hit the holes without making a mess with a spoon.

Let the jam cool in the jars for 20 minutes or so before putting plastic wrap over the top of the jars. It sticks close and keeps the jam fresh.

This is a fast and really easy recipe. The jam is delicious. It’s also very pretty. You could use fancier jars or cups and come up with a nicer lid solution and give these away as gifts.