pinterest day 22: strawberry jam

day 22: strawberry jam from scratch from my "healthy-ness" board

strawberry jam

i bought a couple pounds of strawberries last week for less than $2 a pound.  i used half of them to make these, and i didn't want the rest to go bad, so i thought that jam sounded like fun to make.  

it was my first jelly/jam/preserves attempt ever, and i think it turned out well.

i slightly altered the recipe, i wanted more crushed berries, and the lemon zest sounded funny, so here is exactly what i did:

ingredients:

1 pound of strawberries cored

2 cups of sugar

1 lemon juiced

directions:

- crush the strawberries in a large bowl - it gets messy.  i used a french fry potato cutter first and then a potato masher

- add the crushed berries, sugar, and juice into a large saucepan

- heat on low until all sugar has dissolved, stirring occasionally (5 minutes or so)

- turn heat up to high and bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly 

- bring to 220 degrees (i boiled and stirred for 15 minutes and only got it to 216 degrees - but it seems to have turned out fine!)

- immediately put in sterile containers

using the french fry potato cutter to slice up the large pieces

and mashing them with a potato masher

that's as high as i got

some for us, my parents, and mike's parents 

and of course i had to try it right away

yummm