by Crystal Sands
It is somehow in my nature to constantly figure out ways to become more self sufficient and less reliant on the grocery store for the foods our family eats. Of course, I realize that, as efficient as we have become, we are long way from not needing the grocery store at all, but I decided this year I was going to see what I could do about my homemade jam.
Making homemade jam is one of the joys of my summers, but I have always relied on the low-sugar powdered pectin from the grocery stores, which is sometimes sold out. Additionally, if you don’t do it just right, I swear the powder impacts the texture of the jam.
So I set out to research what I could do to make homemade strawberry jam without boxed pectin. Thankfully, the strawberries from our strawberry beds were generous this summer, and I was able to try again and again to get the jam without pectin just right. I have come to understand that “just right” is a relative term, but I am so thankful I went down this path with my homemade strawberry jam. I found that strawberry jam slow cooked in a copper jam pot is a different but more beautiful version of strawberry jam I have tasted in a long time–probably since my early childhood when I had my great grandmothers homemade strawberry jam.
The first thing I did was purchase a copper jam pot. These are expensive, so I had to purchase my pot last year as a Christmas gift to myself. If you can find a used copper pot and just clean it (they make wonderful copper cleaner), I would highly recommend it.
After I had my pot, which is beautiful beyond words, by the way, I spent time researching recipes for strawberry jam without pectin. The one I found that seemed easiest used a lemon and peel for pectin. The recipe that worked best for me after about five delicious trials is shared below.
However, since I’m never going to be able to grow a lemon tree in Maine, I need to find a different natural pectin. It turns out there are a lot of fruits and fruit skins that are high in pectin and will give your strawberries a little help, but the easiest one that grows in our backyard is apples. You can even use crab apples to make the pectin, and I read you can water bath can the pectin to save for the following summer. So, this coming fall, I will be making some natural pectin out of apples (I’ll definitely share my findings and recipe). In the meantime, here is my jam pot recipe for strawberry jam without pectin.
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Materials
1 copper pot (the copper heats so well and evenly that it’s ideal for a jam pot)
canning jars
large pot for water bathing the jars after you are finished
potato masher for squishing berries
wooden spoon for stirring
tools for canning, such as a lifter and lids for your jars and a ladle to spoon the jam into your jars
Ingredients
10 cups fresh strawberries cut and with stems removed
7 cups sugar
1 large lemon
Directions
Wash, cut, and remove the stems from your strawberries. Put them into your jam pot and start a simmer. Once the juices are coming a little bit, add the cups of sugar and juice of one lemon, and stir. You can then also use the potato masher to mash your berries.
Bring the berries back to a solid simmer and then reduce the heat to low. Add the lemon cut into halves and stir them in. You still want a mild simmer, and you will need to stir every little bit during this process.
Let the jam mixture simmer for about 45 minutes to an hour. I found that I like the jam closer to the 45 minute mark, but it is thinner at that point. Cooking for an hour will make for darker, richer jam, but the taste was a little too dark for me. I feel like there is kind of a process for you to figure out your own preferences for balance between thickness and darkness using this method.
You can kind of tell the jam is getting ready to jar up by the look of it in the pan. It will start to look really glassy, kind of like the deep red of a stained glass window. You can also test by putting a little bit on a cold plate from the freezer. If it thickens up, you are good to go for the next step, which is water bath canning. Just be sure to do your best to skim off the foam from the pectin before you fill your jars. I think it’s fine to have the foam in your jars, but it sure is prettier without it.
To water bath can, just sterilize your jars in boiling water, fill your jars with the hot jam, put on the lids, and then boil in a large pot for 10 minutes. You can read more detailed instructions on water bath canning at the Ball Jars website.
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With the struggle finding the right balance, you may wonder why not just use boxed pectin, but after tasting jam this way, I can tell you the taste is completely different. It’s rich, kind of old school, and tastes really, really good. It’s just worth it. I made a patch my old way with the boxed pectin this summer because, with all of my experiments, I wanted to be sure to had some that was “proper” for gifts, but after tasting it, I realized I can never go back to the boxed pectin. I like the slow cooked method too much. And I’ll be trying to make pectin from apples this fall.
If you have access to a copper pot, I hope you will give this method a try. It seems like a good idea to figure out how make the things you love as self sufficiently as possible, and it’s a bonus that strawberry jam made this way is even more delicious. Truly, it tastes like nostalgia to me, and goodness knows, I am after any nostalgia I can get right now.
cover photo credit: Lienkie Kotze, Unsplash