Strawberry Freezer Jam

When we were growing up, going to our Grandma Letha's house on Saturday morning was a highlight of the week. She usually baked homemade bread with butter and lots of homemade jam. With all of her many grandkids, I'm guessing that there wasn't much left over by the time we all went home. When our kids were young, going to their Grandma's house for Sunday dinner was always anticipated, especially her wonderful homemade rolls and strawberry freezer jam! All the grandkids could hardly wait for the rolls and jam to be passed around the table. They were even seen licking the jam off and then putting more on the same roll! You really couldn't tell which they liked the most, the rolls or the jam! I think it was a tie! 

In thinking about that, I realized that it has been several years since I made my last batch of freezer jam and now with my two little grandson's, it's about time that I start making it again. Some traditions are worth passing on and this is one of them. One of the reasons that I stopped making the freezer jam was because of the many cups of sugar it required. I had heard somewhere that Sure-Jell now had a "no sugar needed" product, so I decided to check it out. I mainly wanted to make sure that it didn't have artificial sweeteners because we stay far away from any products that contain them. 

After I bought the product and took it home and read it, you actually use less sugar or you can use Splenda for no sugar. In very fine print it says "For less or no sugar needed recipes made with at least 25% less sugar than regular pectin recipes." That's what happens when I go to the store without my reading glasses and can't read the fine print. Once I got over the fact that it did in fact need sugar, I am happy to settle for using "less" sugar than before.

And, in case you have always thought that it is really hard to make freezer jam, I'm going to show you just how easy it is! So here we go!

This is the Sure-Jell product that I used and I used the directions for the low sugar freezer jam.

 

First you wash and chop up the strawberries, and then you mash them with a hand potato masher. Next you measure out 4 cups of strawberries with juice and set it aside.

 

Next, you mix the 3 cups of sugar and the Sure-Jell together with one cup of water. You bring it to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly, and boil for one minute. You add the strawberries and continue stirring constantly for one minute, or until everything is completely mixed.

For the final step, you pour the hot mixture into your prepared containers. Now you let them sit at room temperature for 24 hours. At this point they will be set and you can put them into the freezer for up to one year.

You can keep the freezer jam in the refrigerator for 3 weeks.

 

 We're keeping this one in the refrigerator!