It is sweet, it is tart, and those little chunks of strawberry in your mouth leave you begging for more.
My recipe is simple and straightforward. I do not add any preservatives so it does not have a very long shelf life. just about 15 days in the refrigerator. But trust me, your family will not be able to resist once they start eating and do not be surprised if you see an empty jam bottle in 2 days!
The key is to use fresh strawberries. They should have a nice deep red colour and should be ripe but firm to touch.
Jam making requires certain basic things like sugar, pectin and acidity. In my version of the strawberry jam I use normal table sugar, the strawberries provide the pectin and I add lemon juice for acidity.
It is very important to use a clean, sterilized glass bottle to store your jam.
Here is my recipe
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Makes 3 Cups Jam
Ingredients
4 Cups Strawberries ( washed and roughly chopped)
1 Cup Sugar( use more if your strawberries are not very sweet)
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
Procedure
Put chopped strawberries and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and mix well.
Put the pan on heat and let the sugar melt.
Now let the mixture thicken. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon.
You will see the colour of the mixture go from a pale pink to a deep red. At this point the mixture should be thick and should coat the back of your wooden spoon.
Add the lemon juice and stir. You will notice a change in the consistency of the jam.
Put a blob of this mixture on a cold plate and draw a line through the centre of the blob. Your jam is ready if the line is clearly visible after a minute and the mixture does not merge back.
The jam will still look like a viscous liquid at this point. Remove it from the heat. It will thicken some more as it cools.
Cool the jam slightly in the pan and pour into jam bottles while still warm.
Make sure you use good quality jam bottles that will not break because of the heat of the jam.
Cover the bottles partially. Let the jam cool completely and then store it in the fridge!
Eat with fresh bread, toast or with hot paranthas!
Enjoy!
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