Oh I have a really delicious recipe for Strawberry jam for you! This is not really a freezer jam recipe or for canning. Sometimes in summer I find myself with too many berries or I just want to make a little gift for someone or I just want something quick and easy.
This is a perfect recipe as it only calls for 1 pound of strawberries and it takes like 15 minutes or so in total to make. And you just won’t believe how delicious this jam is- it is really heavenly and only 3 ingredients needed!
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do:
- 1 pound strawberries
- 1 lime
- ⅓ cup sugar
- Wash your berries and slice off the stems.
- Place in a medium sized bowl and use a fork or potato masher to start mashing them up.
- Add ⅓ cup sugar and mash a bit more.
- Add the juice from one fresh lime and stir into the berry mixture.
- Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
- Once the berries start to bubble increase the heat to boil.
- Stir the jam frequently for about 6-10 minutes until it starts to thicken.
- Don't let it burn! Once the berries start to have bubbles all over and it feels thicker to stir, remove from heat and immediately transfer to a jar.
- If you prefer chunky jam you are good to go! For a smoother jelly just add to a food processor for a minute or two.
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A few notes about this recipe- first I use amazing strawberries from the Farmer’s Market. They are small and just packed with sweetness and flavor. If your berries are not as flavorful you might consider adding a little more sugar.
I prefer the lime juice in this recipe which makes the jam so fresh and vibrant and just a little different. You can substitute a lemon if you prefer.
This makes a small jar of jam that will last in the fridge for about 2 weeks. I love to serve this with buttered french bread and a small fruit salad for breakfast. Absolutely delicious!
I made this for a neighbor as a little gift. The jar above is a double batch of the jam and I included a little pint of berries from the farmer’s market and a loaf of french bread.
Perfect gift for summer! If you are headed back to school soon wouldn’t this be a lovely idea for the teacher for the first day of school?
I hope you give this one a shot for a super fast and easy homemade jam. If you do try it, please come back and let me know what you think!
And here is another recipe you might like for Strawberry lemonade
And here is a variation on jam with a quick Blackberry Jam recipe.
And a yum-o 3 ingredient Watermelon Sorbet recipe!
Can I use brown sugar or honey instead of white sugar?
Sky if you have super sweet berries you could try honey. I haven’t used honey myself as the sweetener. Maybe agave too. I am not sure about brown sugar. That would probably be my last choice.
Thank you for your suggestion. I will try with agave first and see how it turns out 🙂
Do I need to do anything to seal the jar or will it seal at room temp?
Can I double the recipe?
I made this today and it never set up at all?? Anyone else have this problem? So disappointing
Hi Beth,
I have a batch in my fridge right now and it is nice and thick. You have a few options. Keep what you have and use it as a topping for pancakes or you can try making it again. Did you bring the mixture to a boil and stir for several minutes while it thickened? You can put the mixture back on the stove and try again- bring it to a boil and keep stirring. The jam should coat the back of a spoon before you remove it from heat. Was your fruit nice and ripe by the way or is there a chance it was not quite ripe enough? If it was not ripe you might add more lime juice or lemon juice when cooking. Good luck! I hope you try again- homemade jam is worth the effort 🙂
I just made 4 batches of this (4 pounds of strawberries) and it came out perfectly! The longer it sits the thicker it gets too as it’s cooling. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing, and super simple recipe!
Yeah! So happy to hear that Lisa 🙂 Thanks for coming back to comment.
I would like to make this jam as a Mother’s day gift but I’m wondering if I could use frozen strawberries instead of fresh
Thanks
Linda I think frozen would work but it is so much more flavorful with fresh. Especially if you can find really good berries from a Farmer’s Market. The difference will amaze you 🙂
Hi Linda,
Have you tried sanding the cooler where you want the vinyl to adhere? Depending on the surface of the cooler it might be too slick for the vinyl you are using. Sanding it and scuffing it up a little might help.
Hi Charlene
I just wanted to say that I took your advice and I used fresh strawberries not frozen and it turned out amazing!! I got 2 jars (250ml each) out of one pound of strawberries. My husband ate one jar the same day I made it. I had to hide the other jar from him so my Mom would get her gift today. Now he’s excited to go strawberry picking. Looks like I’m going to need more jars.
Thanks so much
Linda
Oh Linda I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that. 🙂 So glad it worked out. When there are so few ingredients it really is worth getting good quality. I used to hate hearing Ina Garten say that over and over but she is totally right. Happy Mother’s Day!
Can this jam be frozen? What is the difference between freezer jam, canning jam and this jam? I’d like to make a jam I can freeze (our strawberry crop is huge) and one without pectin. TIA!