Strawberry Jam Canning Recipe with natural pectin
30. April 2021
Our friend and guest blogger Chez LaRae worked up this tasty Strawberry Jam canning recipe. You can follow LaRae’s amazing food adventures on Instagram and her website. LaRae is a self-taught baker, cooking and baking instructor, recipe developer, and an editor at @thefeedfeed. See LaRae's other recipe guest blog posts.
Fresh strawberries are one of the first bright signs that warm and sunny weather is on its way. Eat strawberries out of hand or make and can the most luscious, ruby red jam. The recipe below uses natural pectin from fruits (instead of store-bought pectin) and we lowered the sugar by over one cup versus traditional strawberry jam.
This recipe has two parts. The first part is making the pectin using tart apples and a lemon. The second part is combining the pectin you’ve made with the strawberries. It is slightly more involved than using commercially-prepared pectin, however it is still quite easy to make and the results are incredible.
You will have enough strawberry jam for your pantry and a few extra jars to share. After your jars cool, affix pretty Custom Apothecary Strawberry labels by CanningCrafts. Shop for matching canning labels in the Apothecary Canning Label Collection.
Strawberry Jam Canning Recipe
Recipe modified from the cookbook “Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving”.
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Preservation method: Water bath canning
Difficulty level: Easy to moderate
Yield: Makes about eight 8-ounce jars
You will need clean jars and closures, a boiling-water canner, rack, jar lifter, canning funnel, wooden skewer, and a fine sieve.
- 5 tart apples such as Granny Smith, stem and blossom ends removed, chopped coarsely, cores intact
- 1 lemon or lime (unpeeled and finely chopped)
- Water
- 8 cups hulled strawberries, cut in half
- 5 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean (optional), split and scraped. Use scraped pulp for recipe.
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Place rack in the bottom of a boiling water canner, then place empty jars on the rack. Add water to the jars and the canner until the jars are about two-thirds full. Cover the canner and bring the water to a simmer over medium heat. Place lids in a small saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Do not boil. Keep lids hot until ready to use.
In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine apples, lemon, and enough water to prevent sticking. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, partially cover and boil gently, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes, until mixture is very soft.
Working in batches, transfer mixture to a fine sieve. With back of a spoon, press mixture through sieve to yield two cups applesauce. Discard skins and cores.
In a clean, large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine applesauce, strawberries, and sugar. Boil, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens and mounds on a spoon, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla if using, and skim off foam.
Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving ¼” headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary. Wipe rim, center lid on jar. Screw band down until finger-tip tight.
Place jars in canner. When all jars are in the canner, adjust the water level in the canner so that it covers the jars by at least one inch. Cover the canner with a lid and bring water to a full rolling boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling hard and continuously, begin counting the processing time of 10 minutes.
Once full time is complete, turn off heat and let jars sit in canner an additional five minutes (this standing time allows the pressure inside the jars to stabilize and reduces the likelihood of liquid loss that could otherwise occur when the jars are removed).
Remove jars and place on a kitchen towel-lined space. The towel will help reduce the chance of jar breakage. Do not dry the lids or jars at this point. You do not want to disturb the lids while the seals are being formed. Allow jars to cool for 24 hours before removing bands and wiping down jars. Date jars and store in a cool dry place for up to one year.
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Shop our Apothecary Canning Label Collection
Decorate your home canned goods with our rustic Apothecary Canning Label Collection. These custom kraft labels are available for a variety of fruit and vegetables. Customize with a food name, short saying, ingredients, date, or weight. These old-fashioned labels are perfect for farmer’s market sales, pantry storage, and can also be used for bath & body products like sugar scrubs and candles.
Want more Strawberry canning recipes? Read our Strawberry Canning Recipes Collection blog post.
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