Strawberry jam

My strawberry jam recipe may be one of the easiest and simplest recipes I know! All you need is strawberries, sugar, and thick bottomed pot.

When I lived in Korea, making strawberry jam was an annual event for me that took place every early summer, when strawberries were in peak season. I made a huge batch, enough to last one year. My friends and I would always go together to the wholesale farmer’s market where all the strawberries were sold in big shallow wooden boxes with no lids. This made it easy for us to see the strawberries we were buying and choose the ones we wanted.

I always bought two kinds of strawberries: large strawberries and small strawberries. The large ones were expensive and my family and I ate them fresh or frozen them to make strawberry milkshakes. The small ones were cheap and perfect for making strawberry jam. Usually we would go in on some large boxes together to split the cost. Then we’d divide up what we bought and head home.

The day we bought strawberries was a busy day for all of us. We parted at the market and each of us went home to hours of work washing, cleaning, and preparing our strawberries. Removing all the stems on small strawberries was tedious work, but I was always excited in anticipation of seeing my family enjoy what I made from them.

This recipe makes a much smaller portion than what I used to make in Korea, and uses a lot less sugar. Strawberries are available all year round these days, so I don’t have to make a years’ worth at a time! In Korea I used a strawberry to sugar ratio of 2:1, or 12 pounds of strawberries with 6 pounds of sugar. I also boiled it longer to reduce it more. This recipe uses a different ratio: to make 1 cup of jam, it uses 1 pound of strawberries and ½ cup sugar. It’s meant to last in the fridge for up to one month, not for a full year. When you want some more, just make it again! It goes great with my bread rolls and fresh cold milk.

Let me know if you make it, and tell me how it turns out!

Ingredients

• 1 pound (453 grams) strawberries, washed and stemmed
• ½ cup (about 100 grams: 3 ½ ounces) white sugar

Directions

1. Combine the strawberries and sugar in a thick bottomed pot. Cover and boil it over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes.
2. Open and mash the strawberries with a potato masher or a wooden spoon in the pot. Lower the heat to medium low and let it sizzle for 30 minutes until it bubbly and turns shiny  jelly but still runny. Stir and mash the strawberries from time to time to keep the jam from burning.
   
   
3. Remove from the heat and let cool. Put it into a small glass jar. Serve with bread rolls or however else you like it.

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