Strawberry Jam Forever

Welcome to my first post!

I’m a believer that the simplest recipes are the hardest, and nothing is better than a simple recipe done right. So I thought I’d start this blog with the simplest recipe I know—strawberry jam.

As many of you know, at the hotel they were famous for our high tea. It’s particularly popular on the weekends and holidays and it can be hard to get a spot. The scones are extremely popular, and this strawberry jam accompanies the scones. As far as I know, this recipe has been a staple at the hotel and has always been on the menu.

In the pastry shop, we would make about 20 L at a time. I’m assuming too much jam for at-home use,  so I’ve scaled it down and made some adjustments to ensure that you, too, can recreate the recipe at home.

We would use frozen strawberries, but anytime we had excess fresh strawberries or ones that were slightly blemished, we would toss those into the strawberry bucket in the freezer to add to our next batch.

By all means use the nicest tastiest ones you can find, but know that the frozen ones from the supermarket work just fine.

Before we begin, a few things to note:

• It’s important to use a bigger pot than anticipated. It will foam and bubble up!
• In order to amp up the strawberry flavor, we used to add a small amount of strawberry glaze at the hotel. They come in big buckets and aren’t readily available for home use. So I substituted honey here, which adds a nice complexity.
• You can buy citric acid from Bulk Barn. If you can’t find it, you can sub in lemon juice.
• I’m a temperature guy and always rely on my digital thermometer but if you prefer you can always test the consistency by putting a little on a plate and into the fridge. If it’s runny, it may need more time.

Strawberry Jam:

Makes 1 L

Ingredients:

1 Kg Strawberries
650 g White Granulated Sugar
100 g Honey
6 g Pectin
½ tsp Citric Acid (or a small squeeze of lemon juice)

Procedure:

• Combine all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
• Stir it once in a while in order to help break apart the strawberries, but not so much that it’s totally smooth. Nothing is better than getting a big chunk of berry that’s still intact while scooping out of the jar.
• Take the jam to 218 F as a general rule. If you like a more caramelized flavor take it even further.
• We go through our jam so quickly at the hotel that we don’t bother with canning but go the extra step if that’s your jam!
• Put into clean jars and into the fridge. Enjoy!

 Recommended listening: