Fresh picked strawberries have the best flavor. When you use them to make jam, then the jam has amazing taste! We prefer our strawberry jam to taste like strawberries and not be overly sweet. If you feel the same try out our recipe for sugarless strawberry jam!
What's the difference between jam & jelly anyway? I really didn't know until I looked it up. Jelly is clear from fruit juice. Jam has the whole fruit and juice that has been crushed. So now you know.
Just a little known fact. Most of us prefer jelly. Except me--I love strawberry jam.
jelly [jel-ee] noun
a food preparation of a soft, elastic consistency due to the presence of gelatin, pectin, etc., especially fruit juice boiled down with sugar and used as a sweet spread for bread and toast, as a filling for cakes or doughnuts, etc.
jam[jam] noun
a preserve of whole fruit, slightly crushed, boiled with sugar:
dictionary.com
So now you know. Lesson over.
So if you have a lots of berries from your garden then the following recipe might be useful. There are no berries in our square foot garden yet since we just finished getting ours planted. But an awesome friend gifted me with a bag! We've got quite a few frozen strawberries all ready for smoothies so I decided to make strawberry jam and freeze it!
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**2017 update** Square Foot gardens are AWESOME for growing strawberries! We harvested a ton last year and I see just as many blooms this year. Perfect for using in this recipe and many others!
I modified this recipe for Strawberry Chia Jam to be sugarless. The Trim Healthy Mama eating plan has helped me loose some unwanted pounds plus I feel so much healthier. My joints don't ache, I'm less bloated and have WAY more energy these days. One big aspect of THM eating is a diet with no sugar so I've been missing my strawberry jam because most store bought jams are chock full of sugar. This recipe is going to change all that
So with no more commentary (well not much) here's the process. Wash your berries and then put them in your Roma Food Mill(if you have one) or you can use an immersion or regular blender. For the blender method you need to take off the tops of the strawberries first!
This beauty is my best friend during tomato season. I use it to process the tomato puree that we use in chili, taco soup & many other things all year long. I bought it last August at our local farm store.
Does it mean I'm a country girl if I love to wander around there? I hope so.
This was the first time I used it on strawberries but it did great. It eliminated the step of removing the stems and leaves. It does the process for you!
After smooshing(its a real word--I checked) the strawberries I had 7 cups of puree. I added several sprinkles of THM pure Stevia and 7 tablespoons of chia seeds. If you have never used Chia seeds, then I encourage you to give this a try! They are super food and have all sorts of health benefits. There are many benefits having the super food, Chia seeds, in your diet!
I had to mix the puree for a few minutes to get the Stevia to dissolve well and the Chia to stop floating on the top. After that I put the jam in to these cute Ball containers that I had in the cabinet. The are the perfect one cup size! Then into the fridge they went to thicken up.
We had Greek yogurt this morning with the Strawberry Jam on top and it was so YUMMY! Kind of like a strawberry sundae but healthy style! Sorry no picture of the yogurt because it was gone too fast!
Sugarless Strawberry Jam (makes 1 cup jam)
Ingredients
- 1 cup strawberries (frozen or fresh)
- 1 Tablespoon Chia seeds
- THM pure stevia, several sprinkles (adjust to taste))"
Instructions
If using frozen strawberries, let them thaw. Remove tops if fresh and not using food strainer.
Smoosh strawberries with blender or even a fork if you aren't using a food strainer.
Mix in Chia seeds and Stevia, if using. (I used a sprinkle of stevia for 1 cup but I tasted to see if it was sweet enough). If you have very sweet berries you may not need sweetener or may need to taste test to get it where you like it.
Put the mixture in jars and place in the fridge to set up. The jam should be good about 2-3 weeks in the fridge. If it lasts that long. It is also fine to freeze it and thaw it later. I would refrigerate it first though to let it set up.
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