Traditional Strawberry Jam

 Many of my friends prefer traditional strawberry jam- just plain Jane strawberries, sugar and a little bit of lemon juice- no vanilla, no chocolate, no other berries. This recipe is for you guys!

Buy local!  Ottawa is surrounded by great farms.  These strawberries were grown at Kiwan Farms, a ten minute drive from home.

To make approximately eight 250ml jars.

Ingredients

10 cups    chopped strawberries, macerated overnight in two cups of sugar

7 cups.     Sugar (2 cups are macerating the strawberries, plus five for cooking

2 tbsp       lemon juice

Directions

Put macerated berries, 5 cups sugar  and lemon juice in a large pot and cook over medium high heat for about fifteen minutes.  Boil the fruit down until it begins to look syrup-y.  You ca use an immersion blender to purée about half the jam- carefully you don’t want the hot jam to splash you.

There will be foam on top of the jam.  Skim the foam with a large metal spoon.  Let boil for about ten minutes more.  I use a thermometer to ensure the boil reaches 220 degrees.  You can also place small plates in the freezer at the beginning of the cook and checking for gelling that way.

Fill the jars, wipe the rims with a cloth dipped in boiling water.  Top with flat lids and screw rings.  Place the jars in the steam canner.  When the dial is in the green zone, start timing ten minutes.  When the time is up, carefully remove the lid but leave the jars in the pot for about five minutes.  This will help prevent temperature shock.

Enjoy!

(Updated July 2025)

Try something new- Josta Berry Jam

 Josta berries are a cross between gooseberries and black currants.  They start out looking like a gooseberry and, by the time they are fully ripe, they look like a black currant.  This fruit is full of pectin and will gel quite readily.  

Lucky for me, I have quite a few bushes of Josta berries in my garden.  Pick in the morning and jam in the afternoon- nice…

This recipe is from Mother Earth News.  

For approximately three 250-ml jars.

Ingredients

4 cups    josta berries, stemmed

2-4 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup   Lime juice

Directions

Wash and stem the Josta berries and bring to a simmer in a large pot with 1/4 cup of lime juice.  After the berries begin to release their juice, add the sugar and cook for a few minutes before tasting to check for sweetness.  Add more sugar if needed and continue to cook until the jam gels on a cold place or until a thermometer reads 220 degrees

Pour into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch head space, wipe rims and place flat lids and rings onto the jars.  Place in a steam canner for 10 minutes.  At the end of the ten minutes, carefully remove the lid from the pot, turn off the heat and let the jars sit for approximately 15 minutes.  Then remove from the pot and let sit overnight.

Red Currant Jelly

This jelly is pure gold- hand picked from my garden and canned within the hour!  Perfect… well, almost.  This week I tried out a couple of recipes.  The first batch resulted in a soft gel, perfect for a syrup on pancakes or waffles, a baste on a pork roast, the finishing touch to a fruit pie.  The second batch came out as a more “solid” jelly and that’s the one I will go with.

This is a recipe from Cathy Barrow’s Mrs Wheelbarrow’s Practical Pantry, one of my go-to canning books.

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Red currants are blessed with lots of natural pectin so you should only need to add sugar and lemon juice to the mix.

For approximately  5 x 250 ml jars

Ingredients:

2 lbs           red currants 

1/2 cup       water

2 1/2 cups  granulated sugar

1 tbsp         lemon juice

Directions

Gently rinse the berries and ensure the stems are plucked from the berries.  Add the berries and 1/2 cup of water to a 3 QT pan.  Bring to a boil, then mash the currants with a potato masher to release some of the juices.  Remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes.

Ladle the fruit into a jelly bag or cheesecloth lined colander and set over a catch bowl.  Let drip for four hours.  Do not squeeze the bag or your jelly will be cloudy.  Cloudy is fine if you favour flavour over a clear jelly.

**Alternatively, you can use a steam juicer which is a time saver and provides you with a very clear juice.  Set the red currants, stems and all, on the top part of the juicer.  Fill the bottom with water and bring to a light boil.  Monitor the water to ensure it does not run dry.  You should get about four cups of juice.

Measure the juice and measure out an equal amount of sugar.  Pour the juice into the preserving pan and bring to a strong boil.  Add the sugar and lemon juice, start stirring.  Keep stirring while it gets to a boil that cannot be stirred down and boil hard for five minutes.  Turn down the heat and continue to stir.  The jelly should begin to gel slightly.  The temperature should read 220 degrees about this time.  If not, keep heating until it reaches 220 degrees.

Ladle the jelly into the warm jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Wipe the rims of the jars.  Place the lids and rings on the jars.  Process in a steamer canner (or water bath canner) for ten minutes.

(Updated July 4, 2025)