Strawberry Jam

My 4th year of school is finally over! All my exams went smoothly and I'll be heading back to Taiwan in a few days :D Hopefully i won't abandon this blog for another 3 months like last summer, we'll see! So anyways, unlike the past few years where I update at least 3+ strawberry recipes per season, this year the only strawberry related update will be this strawberry jam. It's kind of lame, i know. There's nothing challenging about buying a pectin mixture and boiling it with strawberries... but hey, 3 months ago I would've never imagined myself making my own jam so here it is anyway. Making jam is so ridiculously easy... i wonder why there's still such a huge jam section at every supermarket. I made 3 medium jars of jam with just 9 zloty worth of ingredients! I also included some simple instructions on how to properly can your jam so that they could be stored unrefrigerated for a year. If you're interested, more detailed instructions can be found at homecanning.com. So think twice the next time you're about to buy another jar of jelly... all it takes is 30 minutes and you'll have a years' worth of fresh homemade jam in no time.

Strawberry Jam
INGREDIENTS:

• 500g fresh strawberries
• 500g Cukier żelujący 1:1 (gel sugar)
  [or Pectin + sugar, amount according to package directions]
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash the strawberries cut them into slices or quarters.
   
2. Place the strawberries in a large bowl and crush them with a potato masher [picture 1].
   
3. Add in 500g of the gel sugar mixture and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved [picture 2].
   
4. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil [picture 3]. Never stop stirring!
   
5. When the mixture reaches a full rolling boil (it continues boiling even when you stir it), your jam is done [picture 4].
6. Sterilize your jars and caps by boiling them in hot water for 5 minutes [picture 5].
7. Carefully pour the boiling hot jam into the hot jars, leaving 1/2 an inch of space on the top. Wipe jar removing any stickiness and seal tightly with a cap.
8. Now place the filled jars back into the water and let it boil for another 10 minutes so that the jar will seal properly [picture 6].
   
9. Remove the jars from the boiling water and let it cool for 24 hours.
   
10. You can check if the jars are properly sealed if the cap center is pulled down and does not move when you press on it.
    
11. Properly canned jam can be stored unrefrigerated for 1 year. But once opened, remember to keep it in the fridge!
    

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Strawberry Jam