Quick & Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam

Strawberries are in peak season here in Ann Arbor, Michigan so my preschooler and I headed to a local U-Pick farm to pick some red beauties. There's nothing better than freshly picked strawberries! They are so much sweeter than the ones you find in grocery stores.

We ended up with a HUGE box full of big, juicy, bright red strawberries! They were just dying to be made into something delectable! I am going to call this Strawberry Week on Kathie Cooks so that I can share all the yummy things I made with our strawberry pickings.



The very first thing I made was homemade strawberry jam! My mom used to make homemade jam all the time when I was a kid. We never had to go to the store to buy more jam when ours depleted. We just went to our freezer and grabbed another jar of my momma's homemade jam. It was so good and tasted just perfect on our morning toast.

One thing many people don't realize is that jam is super easy to make. There are even no-cook recipes out there now, which is what I made. You can have a batch of jam made in less than 30 minutes! I ended up making 2 batches. Hopefully that will last us until strawberries are in season again next year.



Quick & Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam
Source: Sure Jell (inside of box)

2 c. crushed strawberries (about 2 pints)
4 c. sugar
1 box (1.75 oz) Sure Jell fruit pectin
3/4 c. water

1. Wash and rinse plastic containers with tight fitting lids. Use 1 to 2 cup size containers.

2. Wash strawberries, discard stems and crush strawberries. Crush strawberries 1 cup at a time, using a potato masher for best results. If using a food processor, pulse to very finely chop. DO NOT PUREE. Jam should have bits fruit.

3. Measure exact amount of prepared fruit into a large bowl.

4. Measure exact amount of sugar and add to the prepared fruit. Mix well. Let stand 10 minutes; stir occasionally.

5. Stir 1 box pectin (Sure Jell) and 3/4 cup water in small saucepan. Bring to boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

6. Stir pectin mixture into fruit mixture. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes.

7. Pour into prepared containers, leaving 1/2-inch space at top for expansion during freezing; cover.

8. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours until set. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. Otherwise, store in freezer for up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator.