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I first learned how to make strawberry jam at the Whetung Ojibwa Crafts and Art Gallery Tea Room. My cousin and I spent a whole day picking strawberries, and then spent the better part of the next day churning out the strawberry jam that was to be used for Tea Room that year.
Alas, the Tea Room is now closed, but I still make jam! Homemade strawberry jam is my favourite type of jam, since the strawberry flavour is so pronounced. I jazzed things up a bit this year by adding a split vanilla bean. Cooking the berries with the vanilla bean infuses the jam with a faint hint of vanilla aroma, a definite plus!
Vanilla Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 7 cups granulated sugar
- 8 cups whole strawberries
- 4 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 package (1.75oz/49g to 57g) regular powdered fruit pectin
- 1 vanilla bean
Instructions
- Place 8 clean 8-ounce mason jars on a rack in a boiling-water canner. Fill the jars and canner with cool water that reaches the top of the jars. Cover and bring water to a simmer over medium heat. Do not boil.
- Prepare 8 two-piece closures. Set screw bands aside. Place lids in a small saucepan and cover with water. Heat just to a simmer over medium heat, but do not boil. Keep lids warm until ready to use. Do not heat screw bands.
- Measure sugar into a bowl and set aside (sugar is added to the boiling jam all at once, so measuring it ahead of time prevents errors in quantities and eliminates cooking delays).
- In a colander placed over a sink, wash strawberries in cool running water. Drain thoroughly and remove hulls.
- In a flat-bottomed bowl or large pot, place a single layer of strawberries. Using a potato masher, crush berries and transfer to a 1-cup liquid measure. As you accumulate each cup, transfer crushed berries to a large, deep stainless steel saucepan. Repeat until you have 5 cups of crushed strawberries.
- Add lemon juice to crushed strawberries in saucepan. Add half a vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise. Whisk in pectin until dissolved. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once and, stirring constantly, return to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam using a large slotted metal spoon. Remove the vanilla bean.
- Fill one jar at a time. Remove jar from canner and empty hot water back into canner (do not dry jar). Place jar on a tray or towel-covered counter and place a canning funnel in it. Ladle hot jam into hot jar, leaving ¼ inch (0.5 cm) headspace. Slide a nonmetalic utensil, such as a rubber spatula, down between the jam and the inside of jar two or three times to release air bubbles. Adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more hot jam. With a clean damp cloth or paper towel, wipe jar rim and threads to remove any food residue. Using a magnetic or nonmetallic utensil, lift hot lid from water and centre it on jar. Place screw band on jar and, with your fingers, screw band down evenly and firmly, just until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight. Do not over-tighten or use any tools to apply screw band. Return jar to canner rack and repeat until all jam is used.
- When all jars are filled, lower rack into canner and ensure jars are completely covered by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) of hot water. Cover canner and bring water to a full rolling boil over high heat. Process (continue boiling rapidly) for 10 minutes, starting timer only when water reaches a full rolling boil. At the end of the processing time, turn heat off and remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, without tilting. Place jars upright on a towel in a draft-free place and let cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, check lids for seal. Remove screw bands and press down on the centre of each lid with your finger. Sealed lids will be concave and will show no movement when pressed. Jars that haven't sealed properly must be refrigerated immediately or reprocessed. Rinse and dry screw bands. Wipe jars and, if desired, loosely reapply screw bands. Label jars and store in a cool, dry, dark place. I like to write on the lid with permanent marker so I know not to reuse it.
