How to make delicious strawberry jam? Cooking features, TOP-7 best step-by-step recipes, video recipes.
Strawberry jam is a preparation with excellent delicate taste and healing properties. It is prepared quickly and without much hassle, and its composition can be varied with other berries and spices. Such jam will come in handy for tea drinking in the cold season during the seasons of colds. Dessert can be used not only as an independent dish, but also added to pastries, pancakes and toasts.
Features of cooking strawberry jam
There are many ways to make strawberry jam from fresh berries at home. These recipes have both similarities and minor differences. But the recommendations below will help you prepare any type of dessert perfectly and without unnecessary hassle.
Here are some helpful tips on how to make strawberry jam:
- It is advisable to pick berries in dry weather so that the moisture content in them is minimal. The ideal time is after 10 am, when the dew has melted. It is undesirable to harvest after rain - the berries at this time are not tasty and watery enough.
- Only whole, ripe, but not overripe fruits are suitable for jam.
- To make delicious strawberry jam, first of all, you need to sort out the berries, selecting whole and ripe ones, then gently rinse them in running cool water, remove the stalks and spread them on a waffle towel so that the glass has excess moisture.
- If the strawberries are too dirty, then you can use a tricky and gentle method to clean them. To do this, take a basin of cool water and fill it with berries. In 20 minutes, all dust and dirt should settle at the bottom. To speed up this process, gently stir the strawberries with your hand.
- You can add a little of your favorite spices and herbs like mint and vanilla to jam, jam, or strawberry preserves, and a handful of other berries like strawberries, currants, or raspberries to enhance the flavor.
- You need to store fresh strawberries before cooking for no more than 8 hours - they tend to sour quickly.
- Before making strawberry jam, you should purchase citric acid. It is an important ingredient in jam making. It acts as a preservative that keeps the berries intact, prolongs their shelf life, removes bitterness and prevents the delicacy from becoming sugared.
- Do not neglect such an important step as removing the foam. It contains various garbage, it greatly reduces the shelf life of the canned product and its taste.
- If you need to make strawberry jam for the winter, then the jars and lids must be well sterilized. First, they are washed with water and soda, then they are left to dry. Then the cans are steamed in a water bath for several minutes or heated in the oven, the lids can be thrown into boiling water, after removing the rubber inserts.
- Try to touch and stir the berries as little as possible to keep them intact. When mixing with sand, it is better to pour it in layers so that you do not have to stir the berries with a spatula or shake them.
- Before cooking strawberry jam, you need to prepare a large container - a stainless, cast-iron or ceramic large pot or a copper basin with a capacity of 2 to 6 kg is ideal. Note that the jam will boil, so consider the height of the pot.
- If you intend to cook a large amount of strawberry jam, then it is better to cook in small portions up to 2 kg. This is necessary so that the berries do not crumple under their own weight and boil quickly and evenly.
- You need to store ready-made jam in a dark place, the temperature of which varies from 3 to 20 degrees. A cellar, shed, loggia, basement or refrigerator will do.
Important! Before you make strawberry jam, you need to understand that it differs in the way of preparation from strawberry jam. Strawberries produce more juice and are more viscous, which makes them burn faster. To avoid unpleasant consequences in the form of bitterness, you need to often stir the bottom of the dishes so that the sugar does not remain at the bottom.
TOP 7 recipes for making strawberry jam
There are many types of strawberries, and the final taste of winter harvesting will depend not only on how and how much strawberry jam is cooked, but also on the variety of berries. Meadow strawberries are the sweetest. White makes a delicacy with aromatic notes of pineapple. Wild berry jam will be fragrant and thick. Gardening is also suitable for making jam, but its aroma will be less intense.
Strawberry jam five minutes
As you might guess from the name, five-minute strawberry jam is cooked for only 5 minutes. Thanks to this, the berries remain intact, they retain all the useful substances, taste and aroma. Lovers of fresh fruits will appreciate this recipe, as the dessert retains its natural taste.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 219 kcal.
- Servings - 4
- Cooking time - 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 500 g
- Sugar - 500 g
Step-by-step cooking of strawberry jam five minutes:
- The berries need to be sorted out, peeled, rinsed, dried.
- Pour into a wide basin and sprinkle with sugar. Leave overnight or 12 hours to let the fruit juice.
- Place the cookware over medium heat, bring to a boil and lower the temperature. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Pour the ready-made strawberry jam five minutes into previously prepared sterilized jars, roll up and put in a cool place.
Wild strawberry jam
Large wild strawberry has a unique taste and aroma. It is superior in taste and quality to its artificially grown counterparts. This recipe for strawberry jam involves cooking in 2 stages. Thus, the berries will remain intact, well saturated with syrup and retain their natural forest aroma.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 1 kg
- Sugar - 1 kg
- Water - 220 ml
Step-by-step preparation of wild strawberry jam:
- Prepare a wide container, pour water into it and add granulated sugar.
- Place the cookware over medium heat and wait until the sugar dissolves.
- Gently add the berries, wait for a boil, boil over low heat for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and cool completely.
- Heat the workpiece again, then heat for another 5 minutes.
- Pour delicious wild strawberry jam into prepared jars.
Attention! You can combine several varieties of berries in one jam - this will make the taste of the dessert even more interesting.
Strawberry jam with whole berries
The secret of such a jam lies in the fact that the berries are not subjected to prolonged heat treatment, but are gradually saturated with sugar. The citric acid will also help keep the strawberry intact. All the benefits of the product remain with it, the dessert acquires a bright rich aroma and rich taste.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 1 kg
- Sugar - 1, 3 kg
- Citric acid - 2-3 g
Step by step preparation of strawberry jam with whole berries:
- Peel, rinse, dry the berries. Pour into a large heat-resistant container, mix with sand, leave to infuse for 8 hours.
- Put the berries on fire and bring to a boil. Then you need to turn off the gas and let the berries cool for 20 minutes.
- The procedure in the paragraph above must be repeated several times.
- The last step will be the addition of citric acid.
- Strawberry jam with whole berries is ready! It remains to pour it into clean jars or saucers.
Thick strawberry jam
This thick strawberry jam recipe is based on the use of a reduced amount of sugar. Also, most of the resulting juice will need to be drained - it will not be needed (you can cook, for example, thick syrup from it). To make the jam thick, it must be boiled for at least 1 hour.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 1 kg
- Sugar - 700 g
Step by step preparation of thick strawberry jam:
- We sort out the strawberries, wash them, dry them. We fall asleep 0.5 kg of granulated sugar, leave for a couple of hours in a cool place.
- Drain some of the juice, add the remaining sugar to the strawberries, put them in the refrigerator for a few more hours.
- We heat the berries, wait for the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer the jam for about 1 hour.
- We pour thick strawberry jam into sterilized jars.
Strawberry jam without cooking
In order to preserve the maximum amount of nutrients in such a vitamin-rich berry as strawberry, it is advisable not to subject it to heat treatment. The ideal option would be to prepare a raw dessert. For this recipe for strawberry jam, you will need a meat grinder or an ordinary crush. To prevent it from starting to taste bitter during storage, you need to add a little more sugar.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 2 kg
- Sugar - 2.5 kg
Step by step preparation of strawberry jam without cooking:
- Rinse the berries, remove the sepals, dry in a colander or towel. Throw in a meat grinder and process until mushy.
- Add sugar, stir and refrigerate for a few days. During this time, it needs to be stirred periodically to help the sugar dissolve.
- Pour the mass into sterilized jars, roll up the lids and store in the refrigerator.
Important! Do not store raw jam outside the refrigerator. It is also worth paying attention to the fact that the shelf life of such a blank is much shorter relative to the heat-treated jam.
Strawberry jam without bitterness
Many housewives are afraid to make jam from this sweet and juicy berry, because it often ends up with bitterness. You can make strawberry jam without bitterness in different ways, and one of the most popular is with the addition of red currants. The sour berry not only removes the bitter taste from the dessert, but also improves its taste.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 3 tbsp.
- Sugar - 1 tbsp.
- Red currant - 0.5 tbsp.
Step by step preparation of strawberry jam without bitterness:
- Peel, rinse and dry the strawberries. Cover it with granulated sugar and leave overnight to extract juice.
- Mix it with currants and put on fire to boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer berries for 5-7 minutes. Do not forget to remove the foam, you do not need to stir the berries.
- Turn off the gas and pour the jam into jars or bowls. Ready!
Strawberry jam for the winter
This recipe for strawberry jam for the winter is quite simple, the total cooking time will not be more than 40 minutes. The delicacy is of medium density, with whole fragrant berries, not cloyingly sweet. You can increase the amount of sugar in the recipe to your liking, and add various herbs or condiments such as cardamom and mint.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 1 kg
- Sugar - 0.8 kg
- Water - 100 ml
Step-by-step preparation of strawberry jam for the winter:
- Gently rinse the berries, then discard in a colander and let the water drain.
- Pour water into a large heat-resistant container, add granulated sugar, alternating with berries. Let it brew for 25 minutes.
- Place the cookware with the mixture over medium heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes. Remember to remove the foam.
- Now the jam can be rolled up or boiled for another 10 minutes the next day - this way it will be even tastier.
Video recipes for strawberry jam
Strawberry jam is an ideal tea treat. Having prepared a jar of such a delicacy in the summer, you can at any time enjoy the aroma and taste of berries, reminiscent of a warm sunny summer. Such a dessert can brighten winter evenings, help cure colds and flu, or make an excellent filling for homemade pies.
