Strawberry Jam

Weighed the Strawberries & Juiced the Lemon



Cooking the Strawberries & Lemon Juice



During the Cooking Process



Doing a Pectin-Set Test via the Wrinkle Method

Wrinkle Test:

Remove the jam-mix from heat and spoon a little misture onto a chilled plate.

Leave to cool for ~1min and push the tiny dollop with a finger - the top should wrinkle.

If it wrinkles only a little, return mixture to heat for another 2 mins & test again.



Sugar Added & Mixture Brought to Boil

Filled into Sterilized Tiny Jars

Makes ~ 3 Tiny Jars

INGREDIENTS

- 700g strawberries
- 18ml lemon juice (1 lemon has ~ 50ml juice)
- 700g white caster sugar


METHODS

1. Put lemon juice in a large heavy pan
2. Add strawberries and cook for ~10minutes until berries are tender
3. Use back of the wooden stirring spoon to crush 1/3 of strawberries to release natural pectin
4. At this stage – do a pectin test.
5. Add sugar to pan & stir over low heat until all sugar has dissolved
6. Increase heat and brought mixture to boil
7. Continue to boil for 10minutes or until set point (105°C – use candy thermometer) is reached, stir occasionally.
8. Cool and fill into sterilized jars.

I had difficulty reaching the pectin stage thus I added extra  1/2 teaspoon pectin powder at method # 4 & # 7.

Jam turned out too hard/rigid ! More product development needed ;)

prior to spreading, plunge the jar into hot water for 10 minutes à jam will be spreadable