Homemade strawberry jam recipe made with only 3 ingredients - strawberry, sugar and lemon juice. This easy strawberry jam is made without pectin, is chemical-free and no added color or preservatives.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time30 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: International
Servings: 1jar
Calories: 113kcal
Author: Preeti
Equipment
Heavy bottom sauce pan
Ingredients
375gramsstrawberries
250gramssugar
1tablespoonlemon juice
Instructions
Rinse the strawberries and drain off the water completely. Wipe it with a dry kitchen towel. Or you can let them dry naturally.
Remove the stem and leaves of the strawberries. Roughly chop them.
In a heavy bottom pan, combine strawberry and sugar.
Heat the pan over low medium heat, stir and cook until the sugar dissolves.
Now increase the heat to medium. Cook until the mixture comes to a boil.
Add lemon juice. Cook stirring frequently until the strawberries soften.
Slowly mash the strawberries with the back of the ladle (or use a masher).
Continue to cook it for 10-12 minutes, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens.
Reduce the heat and do the drop test. Check out the notes below for detailed instructions.
Put a drop of jam on a plate. Let it set for 1-2 minutes. Tilt the plate. If the drop is not runny, your jam is ready. Remove from heat.
Strawberry jam is ready. Pour it into a sterilized glass jar when it is warm. Do not close the lid.
Let the jam come to room temperature, close the lid. Store it in the refrigerator, stays good for a month.
Video
Notes
For making jam without preservatives you have to use a natural preservative. Like in this recipe, sugar acts as a natural preservative. Do not cut down the quantity of sugar as it will decrease the shelf life of the jam.
Sugar combines with the pectin inside the fruit and fruit acid to form a gel structure and helps to set the jam in gel form.
Lemon juice prevents the crystallization of sugar. It stops the jam from getting very hard.
Keep stirring the jam while cooking it. Do not leave it unattended as it may stick to the bottom of the pan.
Drop test - While cooking the jam place a small plate in the freezer. When you are ready to test, place a drop of jam on it. Let it sit for a minute. Tilt the plate; if the jam is runny then it needs to be cooked. If it is set then the jam is ready. While testing the jam you can either remove the pan from heat or set the heat on low.
Use a sterilized glass jar to store the jam.
Always use a dry spoon to take out the jam from the jar.
If the berries are sour then use the ratio of 1:1. For 1 cup strawberry, you can use 1 cup of sugar. But depending upon the sweetness of berries (if the berries are sweet) you can decrease the quantity of sugar to ¾ cup for every 1 cup of strawberry.
If the berries are sour then you can reduce the quantity of lemon juice.