Strawberry jam for the first time

[redser]

I find myself with more strawberries than I can eat. Never thought I would have that problem! So I thought I'd give jam a go. Got my book thanks to Veggiechicken But I have no jars at the moment. So how would it be if I froze them for a while until I have a few jars? Would they still make good jam?
Also, I don't have enough to make up the amounts in the recipe. Are recipes scalable if I reduce the amounts of ingredients equally?
Thanks a lot

[alldigging]

Freeze them!
Ask neighbours for jars.

[veggiechicken]

You could try making Freezer jam instead. Here's one recipe How to Make Freezer Jam - Freezer Jam Instructions and Recipes

[zazen999]

Yes, you can freeze and make it in small amounts; and the amounts are scalable. If I remember correctly, you need the same amount of fruit as to jam sugar and that will give you a fine jam.

[eirish]

I prefer to make jam in small batches as I find the taste is fresher, and it feels less onerous.

[flowertot]

You could try making Freezer jam instead. Here's one recipe How to Make Freezer Jam - Freezer Jam Instructions and Recipes

This is interesting, I'd never heard of freezer Jam. Does it differ much in flavour/texture from regular jam?

[Alison]

I prefer to make jam in small batches as I find the taste is fresher, and it feels less onerous.

Interesting as I prefer to do exactly the opposite as it's more hassle to me to keep making small amounts and washing up the maslin pan etc so I make the biggest batches I can. Never found a problem with taste changing either but we're all different.

Re recipes, I have always done 1.5kg Strawberries, 1 lemon, juice only and 1.25kg Sugar which makes about 4 X 500g jars. Chop up the strawberries into large chunks, put them in your maslin pan with the lemon juice and simmer them very gently for an hour. Add the sugar and turn up the heat until the temperature rises to setting point. Pour into sterilised jars and store in a cool place. Still have some from last year (made huge amounts last year as I had so many fruits) and it keeps very well although, as with all homemade jams, does need to be kept in the fridge after opening. I find ones with any more sugar are just too sweet for me with the natural sweetness of the fruit.

[veggiechicken]

This is interesting, I'd never heard of freezer Jam. Does it differ much in flavour/texture from regular jam?

Sorry, I've never made it!!

[binley100]

and I've never had enough strawbs to make either sort of jam ........but I do know that frozen strawbs are fine for making jam.

[Kleftiwallah]

I collect all our strawbs and zizz them down with a bit of icing sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. Great over ice cream (and you can't see the slug's and woodlice's teethmarks).

Cheers, Tony

[Two_Sheds]

All my fruit goes in the freezer, and in autumn I make the jam /wine / chutney


Never had any complaint so far

[Alison]

Too busy to make jam at the moment so am freezing my excess strawbs ready chopped up for jam later in the year.

[redser]

Thanks so much for all the replies! I changed tonight's menu from saussies and chips to spag ball so I could get my hands on the jar

Voila ...



Oh man, the smell, THE SMELL! Really enjoyed that, hopefully it's as good to eat. I just used a pound of strawberries, pound of sugar and half a lemon as a first test and it filled a 500g jar. I did the flake test and it seemed fine for set. So do I just wait for it to cool completely to see how it set?

Cheers

[redser]

Sorry one more thing, do you have to use one of those wax caps i read about or is it ok just with the screw lid? Thanks

[Alison]

You don't have to use the wax discs and some people don't like them anyway. Personally I like to use them as they catch any condensation off the underside of the lid and as I never (or incredibly rarely) have problems with mould forming, I'm reluctant to change anything