Strawberry Jam

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Our Sunday morning strawberry jam is homemade, lightly sweetened, and packed with strawberries. Top your biscuits or pancakes with this easy homemade treat!

This recipe was a labor of love. From time to time, I enjoy making breakfast for the family.

A few years ago, I decided to make homemade strawberry jam without pectin.

Why make strawberry jam without preservatives, you ask? Well, the answer is simple, I have a health condition and certain preservatives exasperate my symptoms.

Meaning, if I eat pectin, my symptoms worsen until it leaves my body. So, I like to make my own homemade fruit jam recipes and homemade fruit salads.

The finished strawberry jam on toast and a mason jar.

This Sunday morning strawberry jam recipe is just one of the many homemade jams that I create on a regular basis.

Why should I make my own jam?

There are numerous reasons to make your own easy homemade condiments. For example, you can control how much sugar you eat.

The average strawberry jam has 10 grams of sugar in every tablespoon. On the other hand, our homemade strawberry jam recipe only has about 5 grams of sugar per serving.

The sunday morning strawberry jam recipe served in a mason jar.

Another reason to make your own homemade jam is to avoid extra ingredients.

The average store-bought variety has sugar, corn syrup, AND high-fructose corn syrup. In addition to citric acid and fruit pectin.

Whereas our strawberry jam without pectin only has sugar, salt, and corn starch (for thickening) added to strawberries and water.

While it might not hold as long as processed jams, it’s certainly has less complicated ingredients.

Making Strawberry Jam:

Making our Sunday morning strawberry jam is a lot easier than you might think. You don’t need any special equipment.

Whole fresh strawberries and sugar in a pot.

First, you need about 1 pound. of frozen strawberries. Don’t worry about thawing them out.

After that, toss them into a large sauce pan. As you may have noticed, it’s very similar to making your own homemade strawberry pie filling.

Slat has been added to the prepped strawberries.

Next, add 1/4-cup of sugar, 1/2-teaspoon of salt, and 1/4-cup of water to the pot with berries.

Then, place the pan over medium heat, cover it, and let the homemade strawberry jam cook for about 15 minutes.

Water has been added to the sugar and strawberry mixture.

Now, it’s important to keep and eye on your Sunday morning strawberry jam as it cooks.

You’ll need to stir it from time to time to keep the sugar from burning. It should look like the picture below as it cooks.

The homemade strawberry jam cooking.

As the mixture cooks, the strawberries will break down and create a lot of juice. However, we’re going to use a corn starch slurry to thicken everything.

In fact, once it gets close to being done, go ahead mix 1/4-cup of water with 3-tablespoons of cornstarch.

A corn starch slurry has been added to the cooked berries.

When the 15-minutes have passed, stir in the slurry, cover the pan again, and lower the heat to low.

Let the homemade fruit jam cook for another 7-10 minutes. Again, keep an eye on it and stir it every minute of so to keep it from burning.

The finished strawberry jam in the pot.

Last, turn off the heat after the 10-minutes and uncover the pot. Use a potato masher or spoon to mash the berries. Unless, you prefer whole berries, it’s up to you.

Let the Sunday morning strawberry jam cool for a bit before transferring it to container with a lid.

Keep it stored, in a sealed container, in your fridge until you’re ready to use the jam.

Strawberry Jam Recipe Tips:

  • The jam can be frozen for up to 2 weeks in a freezer safe container.
  • This strawberry jam recipe is not a preserve. If you would prefer a homemade preserve, then try adding fruit pectin and citrus acid to the recipe. Another option is to use proper canning methods.
  • You can use fresh strawberries. Just be sure to wash, dry, and remove the stems of the berries. Also, you may need a more than 1/4-cup of water (added to the berries, don’t adjust the slurry).
The homemade strawberry jam served with toasted bread.
The sunday morning strawberry jam recipe served in a mason jar.

Strawberry Jam

4.8 from 18 votes
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Author: John
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 16 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound strawberries, fresh or frozen
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup water, for the strawberries
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • ¼ cup water, for the cornstarch slurry

Instructions
 

  • In a large saucepan combine the strawberries, salt, sugar, and 1/4 of water. Cover the mixture and let it cook on medium-high heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
    1 pound strawberries
    ½ teaspoon kosher salt
    ¼ cup granulated sugar
    ¼ cup water
  • While the fruit cooks down, in a small mixing bowl, combine the other 1/4 cup of water with the cornstarch. Whisk the ingredients well to create the slurry.
    3 tablespoons cornstarch
    ¼ cup water
  • After the 15 minutes has passed, fold the slurry into the cooked fruit mixture. Cover the saucepan, lower the heat to low, and let it cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Once the jam has cooked down, remove the lid (use a potato masher to mash the strawberries a little if you want). Let the jam cool, then serve over biscuits, pancakes, or toasted bread.

Nutrition

Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 27kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.004g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 73mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 3IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.1mg

Notes

The calories listed are an approximation based on the ingredients and a serving size of 1-tablespoon of homemade strawberry jam. Additionally, it does NOT include the toasted bread seen in the photos. Actual calories will vary.
 
This recipe is NOT a preserve and it is in no way meant to prolong the life of the fruit. The jam can stored in a sealed container, in your fridge, for up to 5 days.
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24 Comments

  1. I never made Strawberry Jam with cornstarch before, it’s always liquid pectin but man o man, this jam is soo good and it’s not sweet which is the best thing, so it’s gonna be a treat for ppl who cannot have a lot of sugar in their diet. Thanks for sharing!!!

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