Strawberry Jam Plan

Summer 2021 Updated September 2023

It’s strawberry season! We picked pounds of fresh strawberries…and now what? Time to make homemade strawberry jam. This recipe only calls for three ingredients and takes about 20 minutes in total to make. Get ready to enjoy your best peanut butter & jam sandwich ever!

via GIPHY

Have you seen this episode of Friends? The One with the Jam?

A) If you haven’t, stop reading this and go watch it. B) If you have, then you know about Monica’s jam plan. I did not need the plan to get over my man, but it’s always a good idea to make jam!

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*If you’d like to skip directly to the jam recipe-click here.

When the strawberry farm tells you to come picking- you come picking! Our local farm was offering socially distanced picking this year so I packed up the kids and we went on our first official adventure of summer vacation. Little M was too small to be allowed to wander so I had 33 pounds of fun strapped to me in the baby carrier and it was up to the other two yahoos (always said with love) to harvest our berries. No time to pick your own? Try Instacart Grocery Delivery

L & E managed to pick about 5 pounds of strawberries and no one fell in the mud- success! Last year when we picked, most of our crop was eaten up very quickly. This year due to the rain and then complete lack of rain, (and me not being able to supervise very well with my extra appendage) the berries were really tiny or really ripe. They weren’t so great to eat on their own, and thus the jam plan was born!

I was intimidated and thought the process was going to be really difficult, then I started looking at different recipes and it is so easy! All you need are:

• Strawberries (duh)
• Sugar
• Lemon Juice

I also suggest having a mason jar around to store it in. I was not that forward thinking and had to cool mine in ramekins. It works, but it’s not nearly as convenient.

Making Jam

Wash, hull and chop about 3 cups of strawberries. If you want chunky (what a great word) regular jam proceed to the next step. If you’re more of a smooth jelly person, go ahead and use the food processor to pulverize your berries before moving on.

Add strawberries to a large saucepan and set burner to low/medium. Add 1 cup plus 3 TBSP of white granulated sugar and 3 TBSP of lemon juice, stir to combine.

As with any time you have sugar cooking, stir often and carefully. There’s not much worse than a sugar burn! Once the sugar has dissolved completely, mash the strawberries. I used a potato masher and it worked great. If you are using a metal masher and a metal pan like I was smart enough to do… then be careful not to scratch your pan!

I am still getting used to our new pans. So far I hate them for french toast (I should just always use the griddle, I don’t know why I bother with any other method) and chicken breast but love them for the jam and this carbonara recipe!

A watched pot will eventually boil…

Allow the mixture to come to a boil, stirring often. You want a reddish pink foam to appear on top of most of the jam. Boil on low for about 10 minutes or if you’re afraid of screwing it up like I was, use a food thermometer and wait for your berries to get to 215 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Side note: I’m sure you should use a candy thermometer, but all I own is a meat thermometer and it worked great.

Homemade Strawberry Jam!

Not sure if you can tell yet, but as much as I’m a planner and organizer, I also tend to fly by the seat of my pants when I jump into a project. I have none of the actual equipment you should use and don’t know how to can this awesome jam. Perhaps someone will teach me??

I used a silicon ladle to scoop out my jam (it will still be very thin) and into heat proof ramekins for cooling.

I let it set for about an hour before we dug into it. I’m going to preface this by saying I am a grape jelly girl for life.

Jelly-not jam

Grape-never strawberry.

BUT THIS STUFF WAS SO GOOD!!!

One ramikin was enough jam for all five of our peanut butter sandwiches, with a bit leftover for E to eat with a spoon! I put the rest in a plastic storage container. The jam will stay for about 10 days covered in the fridge.

I’m so glad there are leftovers, there are few combinations in life better than hot buttered toast with jelly (or jam!).

Jam Plan Conclusion

Can this be made with other fruits? I assume so?

Am I becoming a domestic goddess? Totally.

Do I know what I’m doing? Absolutely not! The good news is I’m always honest with the recipes I share and I won’t steer you wrong!

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Homemade Strawberry Jam