Before starting you might want to review my
Kitchen Notes on Making Q&E Jams
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This is a refrigerator jam and not intended to be sealed and stored in the pantry. All you need is a very clean jar. Once the jam has cooked to consistency, pour into jar, let cool and refrigerate.
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
Wash a pint jar, but do not dry. Add about an inch of water to the jar and place in microwave for 1.5 minutes. Using jar grips, pour out the hot water and place jar on a clean towel until ready to pour.
Increase the heat to medium and add the lemon.
Bring the jam to a full boil, stirring constantly. A full boil is a boil that cannot be stirred down. (You might need to increase the burner setting to medium-high in order to get to or maintain a full boil.)
Using a candy thermometer, boil the jam, stirring constantly, to the temperature for your elevation (220° F for sea level or 205° F (96° C) to 210° F (99° C for 5000 ft), and how firm you like your jam. Eventually, you get a good feel for when it's ready.)
Remove from the heat and pour into the clean, hot pint jar waiting in the microwave. Screw a lid firmly onto to the jar. Let cool, then refrigerate. Jam will keep in the refrigerator until you finish it off, which doesn’t take long.
Strawberries - If berries are a bit under-ripe, dice them rather than mashing them. If the berries are over-ripe, mash them or place in food processor and pulse a few times.
Amount of yield - 2 cups yields a little short of a full pint. To ensure a full pint, increase the fruit to 3 cups, the sugar to 1 1/2 cups and use the juice from a whole lemon. Increase the cook time by a few minutes or until the temperature for your elevation is reached. This much jam could take 16 to possibly 20 minutes to cook down. As a general rule - for each batch just keep the weight ratio of fruit to sugar as 2 to 1 and the water and lemon amounts the same. The larger the batch, the longer it takes to cook.
Variation - A minty strawberry jam - Add 3 sprigs of fresh mint to the jam after the sugar is dissolved. Remove the sprigs (and discard) once the jam comes to a boil.
Troubleshootig - Since this recipe doesn't add pectin (except with the lemon juice) and strawberries are relatively low in pectin, there are a few variables that can affect the outcome - one of them being the ripeness of the fruit. The pectin content of a fruit decreases as the fruit ripens making this a good recipe for strawberries that were picked before their time.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen