A small-batch Quick Strawberry Jam recipe that is bursting with fresh strawberry flavor!
This quick strawberry jam is just sweet enough to accentuate the strawberries. And since we aren’t trying to get a super thick, spreadable jam, we don’t have to add as much sugar! We can also add lemon juice to up the tartness and really let the strawberries shine!
Until I got more professional experience I always wondered why some jam recipes were considered “small-batch.” It was one of those things that I got to learn the hard way in the kitchen. I’ll spare you the drama, but basically the liquid cooks off fast enough in smaller batches of jams using fruit that don’t have much natural pectin. If you take the recipe below and you multiply it by 10 or 15 (yes, I did) you are going to get strawberry soup. If you continue to cook this soup in the hopes that it will make something resembling jam, the sugars will begin to caramelize and eventually you will scorch it and it will taste like hundreds of dollars mixed with sugar…
What I am trying to say is if you scale this up without pectin, it will be watery and sad. Nobody wants watery jam.
If you cook it too long it will caramelize and not be that beautiful bright red.
If you macerate (let the sugar and strawberries sit together) overnight, this jam will be even better! But it isn’t necessary at all!
Learning when to pull the jam off purely by eye and smell takes practice and lots of trials that go horribly wrong. So don’t beat yourself up about a bad batch. At least you didn’t burn 30 pounds of strawberries!
Jam is also just my jam. As can be seen with my Mixed Berry Jam, Cranberry Cinnamon Jam Bars...oooo and Apple butter! What up, Apple Butter! Apple of my eye.
Quick Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 700 g Strawberries (medium diced)
- 210 g Sugar
- 20 g Lemon juice
- 1 Lemon (zested)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a pot.
- Bring to a boil and cook on medium until the strawberries begin to break down and release their juices. If you want a seedless jam, immersion blend the hot jam.
- Continue to cook until the jam gels on a frozen plate. If you are straining, pass it through a fine sieve. This is totally optional and in my video I didn’t even bother! I wanted a thick, chunky jam!
- Cool covered in plastic wrap or proceed with the canning process with hot jam.
Video Instructions
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