Easy Strawberry Preserves Recipe- With Canning Directions! (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio of fruit to sugar for preserves? ›

Many classic preserve recipes call for equal amounts of fruit and sugar. However, I prefer a blend of 60 percent fruit and 40 percent sugar, by weight. A 60/40 blend includes enough sugar to preserve the fruit and aid in the jelling process, but allows the flavor of the fruit to come to the fore.

How Long Do You Process Strawberry Jam? If the jars are pre-sterilized, leave the jam in the boiling water bath for 5 minutes, but if the jars were not pre-sterilized, the processing time should be 10 minutes, at least.

You might think that strawberries would be acidic enough on their own for the water bath canning, but actually most strawberry jam recipes call for a little bit of lemon juice to bring the acidity up.

(This is about the fruit, remember?) While there are basic fruit-to-sugar ratios, it's important to note that if you start with extremely tart fruit, you might have a jam that is more mouth-puckering than expected. For our recipes, we're using anywhere from ¼ cup to ¾ cup sugar per pound of fruit.

Add ¼ to ½ cup sugar to each quart of prepared fruit. Bring to a simmer over low heat. Pack fruit while it's hot in the hot juice that cooks out. Light corn syrup, light brown sugar or mild-flavored honey can replace as much as half of the sugar used in canning fruit.

Process jams in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes if jars are pre-sterilized. Clean hot jars that are not pre- sterilized may also be used; in that case, process jams in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (Note: The 5- or 10-minute processing time is for altitudes of 0-1000 feet.

Prepare lids to the manufacturer's instructions on the package and place them on each jar with a ring, turned finger tight. Boil in a water bath for 10 minutes, making sure to adjust for your location's altitude. Remove from the water bath and cool at room temperature for 24 hours. Make sure the jars are sealed.

You don't have to, but proceed carefully. "If you are really anti-pectin, you can omit it, but you'll need to cook the jam longer. Doing so will remove most of the water content in order to get it to set up properly and in turn, will result in a smaller yield," adds Wynne.

If your recipe called for lemon juice and you forgot to put it in, your mixture will not be acid enough for safe canning. You have to open the jars and put the mixture into a sauce pan. (If you made the jam or jelly recently and you carefully remove the lids without damaging them, you can re-use the same lids.)

Unfortunately, now that the pectin is dissolved and free, the strands of pectin repel each other because they carry an electric charge that is negative. Without a little help, the pectin strands can't come together to form a network that will set your batch of jam — that's where the lemon juice comes into play.

Can I use bottled lemon juice in jam making? ›

You can use bottled lemon juice or fresh. However, I personally look to use other complementary juices to certain fruit jams. Rather than rely on lemon juice I would for example use redcurrant juice from fresh redcurrants in a strawberry jam instead, or an acidic type of apple and apple juice in a blackberry jam etc.

Fruit preserves are a lot like jam, but they're slightly thicker, thanks to the addition of large chunks or whole pieces of fruit instead of chopped, crushed, or puréed fruit. You'll usually find large bits of fruit suspended in preserves, as well as seeds, in many cases.

Certain fruits are known to have more pectin than others. Fruits with high pectin gel more easily when making jams and jellies and do not need added pectin. Conversely, fruits with low pectin do not set easily when making preserves and will need added pectin.

While you can simply reduce the jam to your liking, you can also add commercial pectin or chia seeds to the reducing jam to guarantee thickening.

It can be prepared from one kind of fruit or from two or more kinds.In its preparation about 45% of fruit pulp should be used for every 55% of sugar. The FPO specification of jam is 68.5% TSS, 45% of fruit pulp and 0.5-0.6% of acid (citric acid) per 100 gm of the prepared product.

Top tips for making jellies

These are clear jams without 'bits' in them, made by boiling strained fruit juice with sugar. They're best made with fruits high in pectin, though if your fruit isn't, combine with a fruit that is, like apples and gooseberries. To every 600ml of juice, add 450g sugar.

This fruit content is not worked out in the same way as 'QUIDing' with the fruit content, which is in any case done in the ingredient declaration. You will get a % fruit for each fruit the jam contains, together the statement 'Prepared with X g of fruit per 100g'.

In addition to sweetening and helping with gel formation in regular jams, jellies and preserves, sugar plays a very important role in preventing spoilage. The large amount of sugar present reduc- es the “available” moisture for microbial growth.