Strawberry Jam 草莓果酱 🍓

Whenever fresh and red strawberry is in season, I always have a urge to buy some home to make jam. Although one punnet of fresh strawberries weighing 250g, can only boiled down to about 140g of jam, it is still worth the effort. I can't get any strawberry jam fresher than homemade 💖

Produced: about 140g of jam

Ingredients

220g strawberries, hulled

70g raw sugar

1 lemon

10g rock sugar

Directions

1. Rinse strawberries in vegetable wash to get rid of any residual pesticides.

2. Remove the green calyx, and cut the strawberries into smaller bits.

3. Mix strawberry bits with raw sugar and lemon juice, and let them stand for about 5 to 10 minutes.

I cut the lemon into 3 equal portions. Squeeze out the juice from the two ends, and mix with the strawberry bits. For the middle section, peel and keep the yellow lemon skin, and discard the white pith. Cut the middle portion, which holds the seeds, into about 4 portions. I used these to extract the pectin in Step 4.

4. Strain the strawberry bits and collect the juice in a pot. Keep the strawberry bits aside.

Add the lemon skin and middle portions of the lemon into the pot too.

Bring to a boil at medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Lower the heat when the liquid thickens.

Remove the seeds from the thickened sauce. 

By boiling the lemon seeds separately, it is easier to pick the seeds out.

5. Add rock sugar and the strained strawberry bits to the sauce. Bring to a boil at medium heat.

Stirring frequently.

After boiling, reduce the heat to low.

Stop heating when the wooden spoon can draw a clear path through the strawberry paste.

6. Transfer the hot jam into a sterilized glass bottle.

Close the lid and invert the bottle. Remain in this position till the jam cool down. This helps to keep a vacuum in the bottle so the jam can have a longer shelf life 😁

Store in the fridge after the jam has cooled down.