The Best Ever Strawberry Jam

In the midst of summer, berries are everywhere and I am a strawberry lover through and through.  I have been looking at strawberry jam recipes for quite some time.  I found so many recipes that required pectin.  I really wanted to go all natural.  But, then I ran across a few that used apple for pectin and I started working on this recipe. It is our family favorite.  My daughter can't seem to get enough of it and that is quite the testimonial coming from a finicky 16 month old.  Eaten on the spoon, straight from the jar, on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on top of vanilla ice cream and worked into my favorite pork roast recipe are just a few of the uses for this fabulous  jam recipe.  This strawberry jam is so versatile you are going to love it too!!

Strawberry Jam
2 pounds fresh strawberries
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons orange juice
3/4 Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored and chopped small)

Rinse strawberries in cold running water and hull them.  Cut strawberries to desired size (I prefer quartered).

Place the strawberries in a  big heavy-bottomed pot, add sugar and orange juice and stir well to combine.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often.  Add apples and continue to stir occasionally, you will start to notice foam rising to the top of your jam.  It will look like this.

 

As the foam rises to the top skim it with a ladle and place it in a cup.   You may choose to discard the foam, but we like to eat it.  All that strawberry goodness!  Stir until the jam reaches 220 degrees on a candy thermometer. This will take approximately 25 to 35 minutes.

Remove pot from heat.  Your apples should dissolve into your jam and you will not taste them, however on occasion mine do not completely dissolve, so I transfer my jam to a food processor and blend it smooth.  As it so happens this batch is for a gift and they like smooth jam, but my family prefers the chunky.

If you are not food processing it, place jam in bowl or jelly jars and allow to come to room temperature.  Then store in the refrigerator.

I have not canned these as we love it so much it goes too fast.  I put it in a glass bowl or 2 jelly jars and store it in the fridge. 

Jam will keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks (much longer from my experience).  But, it will keep  longer, if you pack and seal in canning jars according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe - The Slow Roasted Italian.com