Video:How to Make Strawberry Jam

SHARE ON                

Transcript:How to Make Strawberry Jam

Hi. Richard Ruben here, Chef Instructor at the Institute of Culinary Education. Here with About.com.

Starting in late May running through September, there’s going to be something to put up if you want to. We’re going to start with strawberries.

Supplies For Making Jam

But before you do any kind of canning or preserving you need to think about safety. Everything needs to be sterilized. Let’s go through some of the stuff that we need to actually get it under way. A pair of good utilitarian tongs, a ladle. I recommend getting a pair of tongs that are for picking up the jars. You need to also buy these Ball Mason jars. When you buy them, it is most important when you take them out, you don’t touch this lid. We use the tongs, I’ll pop them off, and everything is going to be sterilized. You’ll also need a funnel. Now, this one is a jamming funnel. And, it fits perfectly in the mouth of the jar.

How to Sterilize

I sterilize everything by dropping everything in boiling water for about six minutes. The first thing I sterilize are my tongs. Cause my tongs are going to be lifting everything out of the water. If these are not sterile and I touch, this is not sterile. The other thing I sterilize, I take a baking tray and a rack, and I put these in a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Because everything that comes out of the sterilizing water sits on this rack.

Buying Great Strawberries

So, the first thing you want to do is just buy strawberries that are beautifully red, you want to make sure that there’s nothing called a white shoulder. And that's when your strawberry basically goes from a red and strays into a yellowish white top. They’re not going to be so flavorful. Firm but not too firm and they should actually smell like strawberries.

Prepare the Strawberries

So, the first thing we’re going to do is remove the hull of the strawberry, and that’s just the green part that attaches to the stem. And, depending how you like your jam. Do you like it chunky? Do you like it smooth? Will determine how small or how large you have your strawberry. I’m a chunky guy so I only quarter them. And for about every two cups of strawberries, I would do about three cups of sugar. Or, do two cups depending on how sweet you like it.

We’re also going to have to add pectin. Pectin is a naturally occurring thickening agent. I also want to add to this batch about 2 tablespoons or so of lemon juice. The lemon juice is going to help, believe it or not, act as a preservative.

Put Strawberries on Burner

And the first thing we want to do is take the strawberries and the lemon juice and start them cooking. So, let’s put the strawberries on a high flame just to get them breaking down a little. Give 'em a stir every once in a while so they don’t scorch.

Once you start to see the juices being released from the strawberry add your sugar. When we add the sugar we’re going to cook it for a few minutes, we’re then going to add about a teaspoon to two teaspoons of pectin, give it a stir and cook another few minutes. Then, we’re ready to put them in the jar. Let’s fill em.

Add Jam to Jars

So, we’re just going to take our jam, that’s still hot and let it run. We want to leave what we call head room. I want to leave about a quarter to a half inch below the rim. So, as it expands, while I’m preserving it in the hot water – I don’t explode.

Add Jars to Boiling Water

So now, let’s put on our lid, carefully with your ring, get it on, center, take the ring and give it a good turn. Strawberries need to go into hot boiling water for about ten minutes to seal them. You must make sure that the jar is fully covered by the water.

So remember, you can put up the seasonal best at will. Just keep clean keep sterilized. That’s the most important thing.

Thanks for watching. To learn more visit us at About.com.