Strawberry Jam

I bought a flat of strawberries this week, so I'm doing a bunch of cooking this week with strawberries. Today? Strawberry jam! This recipe doesn't have pectin, so I was a little worried about it setting up, but I think it turned out well. It takes 48 hours to set up properly, so I guess we'll find out.



Ingredients

• 2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled
• 4 cups white sugar*
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

• Blend strawberries. You should get about 4 cups.
• In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice.
• Stir over low until the sugar is dissolved.
• Increase to high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. (Increase temperature a little at a time to prevent it from boiling over.
• Boil, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F (105 C). (About 15 minutes. Read below for tips how to tell if it's ready.)
• Transfer to hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headspace.
• Seal. (One person said you could just turn the jars over for 5 minutes, then turning them back right-side up. I put them in a steamer canner for about 5 minutes. You can also use a water bath.)

To test for jelling

• Place three plates in a freezer.
  
• After about 10 minutes of boiling place a tsp of the liquid of the jam onto the cold plate.
• Return to freezer for a minute.
  
• Run your finger through the jam on the plate. If it doesn't try to run back together (if you can make a line through it with your finger) it's ready to be canned.

* For preservation purposes, a 1:1 ratio of fruit to sugar is preferable. Less sugar is fine, but it won't last as long. Because it only made two pints, and because I don't like as much sugar, I only put in 3 cups.

Recipe courtesy of All Recipes.