Jam! (Berry Christmas)

To totally ruin the surprise: I have decided to preserve summer and give it out at Christmas. The first endeavor: strawberry jam. I wanted to make a jam that did not have any added pectin, and since strawberries are notoriously low on pectin (the natural gelling agent in plants), I did a bit of research before settling on a recipe. First, I had hoped to amp the pectin content (and the tartness) by adding some currant juice, but alas they are not yet in season around here (and strawberries are about to go out of season). So instead I settled on Darina Allen's Mummy's Strawberry Jam from her recent Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The time-honored ways are the best - over 700 recipes to show you why. 

So I began with 10 pints of strawberries (which weighed approximately 1 lb. each)

Mummy's Strawberry Jam

4 lb. unblemished strawberries

Juice of 2 lemons

7 c granulated sugar - not superfine or jam sugar (warmed in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes)

Put the strawberries and lemon juice (which add pectin the equation) in a stainless-steel saucepan and cover with the warmed sugar. Cover and leave on counter overnight (this pulls out more pectin from the strawberries). 

 After 24 hours, the lemon juice, strawberries and sugar should look like this. As the strawberries begin to give up their juice, they also reduce dramatically in volume, so I consolidated pans. 

Bring the strawberries to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. mash some of the berries with a potato masher (or the side of a spoon, as my potato masher is still packed away in a box). 

Continue to boil until the jam reaches a set - about 30 minutes. (Or an hour when you have more than doubled the recipe). Jam is set when it reaches 220F - enough water has boiled out and the pectin will allow the mixture to gel. Another way to check if the jam has reached a set is to put a plate in the freezer to cool (do this at the beginning of the process), place a teaspoon of the jam on the center of the plate and return it to the freezer for a minute. Push the edge of the jam on the plate towards the center of the pile. If it wrinkles, the pectin:water ratio is reasonable and the jam will set upon cooling. Of course, being the geek I am, I did both. 

Then I canned the jam via the boiling water method. I have a handy book called The Farmer's Wife: Canning and Preserving Cookbook that I use to ensure that I am not just preparing a nice home for Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Another source is the National Center for Home Food Preservation. At any rate, success! 

(On a related note, the extra jam - now sitting in my fridge - is excellent on pain au levain.)