Strawberry Jam

This year was my first time to visit Bloom in the Phoenix Park.  

It was without doubt a fantastic day, packed full of activities. There was a huge array of stands which catered for all age groups. The food stands were amazing and there was plenty of free samples available and loads to pick and choose from! Of course I was straight to the Bord Bia tent in search of Sheila Kelly and Nevin Maguire who gave fantastic demonstrations and cooked some lovely dishes. 

Among the many delights on show I picked myself up some beautiful fresh Keelings Strawberries and decided it is well over time to get back on my blog and start posting again! The ‘Kitchen Aid’ has been in hiding since I have been on countdown for my summer holiday to California (less than 5days away)! 

So straight after Bloom I bought myself some cute medium sized Killiner jam jars in Home Store and More for a surprisingly low €3. They are a perfect size and this batch of strawberry jam here made two full containers.

Hope you enjoy the recipe and give it a try! Jam is surprisingly very easy to make and worth the hassle! You can have some fun decorating the jam jar and labelling it as you see I did! 

I’m holding of on eating mine as i’m letting it ‘mature’ and I’m going to enjoy it with some fresh warm fruit scones after my holiday…  

Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1kg strawberries 
• 650g jam sugar 
• Juice of 3 lemons  

I sterilised my jam jars in hot soapy water first and then put them into the oven on a baking tray at 180DC for 10-15minutes.  

Method: 

Remove the stem of the strawberries, wash and add to a large saucepan with the juice of the 3 lemons. (The lemon juice increases the pectin which allows the jam to set, this is required as strawberries are low in pectin).  

Cook the strawberries on a medium temperature for 5 minutes to soften.  

Next add in the sugar and cook until all the sugar has dissolved. Increase the temperature to boil for about 10minutes until it reaches setting point.

*To check if it has set, add one teaspoon of jam to a cold plate that was kept in the freezer, push it around the plate and if it wrinkles the jam is set. If it is not set boil for an additional few minutes. 

Skim away any white scum on the surface of the jam using a large spoon. Carefully ladle the jam into sterilised dry jam jars. Leave to cool for about an hour before sealing and labelling.