Strawberry And Vanilla Jam Recipes

Steps:

• Wash, hull, and coarsely chop strawberries in a large glass, ceramic, or stainless steel bowl. Mash with a potato masher to a fine texture, 1 or 2 minutes. Add sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla bean paste. Stir well and let stand until berries have released some of their juice, about 30 minutes. Add pectin, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until well combined after each addition. Let stand 5 minutes to activate pectin.
• Spoon jam into clean, wide-mouth, half-pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rims clean with a damp paper towel. Loosely apply clean lids and set jars in freezer. Freeze completely, about 5 hours.
• Tighten lids. Store in freezer up to 1 year or in fridge up to 1 month.

Steps:

• Combine the strawberries, vanilla beans, and 1 1/2 cups of the sugar in a large bowl. Mix well and let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes, or until a puddle of juice forms at the bottom of the bowl, and up to several hours.
• Meanwhile, have ready 8 half-pint canning jars with 2-piece lids. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat so that the water is barely bubbling. Immerse the pint jars in the pot. Place the rings and lids in a separate small saucepan and cover them with very hot, but not boiling, water. Leave the jars and lids immersed while you cook the jam. If you don't have a candy thermometer to tell you when the jam is done, place a small plate in the freezer.
• Transfer the fruit mixture and all of its juices to a large, wide pot set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries are very soft, 25 to 30 minutes. Use a potato masher to break down the strawberries. Taste, and add additional sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring to dissolve it, as needed. Fish out the vanilla beans and use a paring knife to scrape their seeds into the jam. Discard the beans.
• Continue cooking the mixture, stirring frequently to avoid scorching, until it reduces by about one-third and reaches 220°F on a candy thermometer, another 60 to 90 minutes. If you don't have a candy thermometer, remove the plate from the freezer and immediately spoon a teaspoon of jam onto it. Let it sit for a few minutes until the jam cools, then tilt the plate and see how much it runs. It will probably not wrinkle and get firm the way jams with more pectin would, but it should be thick and only slightly run. If it's too runny, continue cooking it down, stirring frequently, until it thickens further.
• While the jam is still hot, ladle it into the hot, sterilized canning jars, leaving about 1/4 inch of head space at the top. Remove any air bubbles by running a long, nonmetallic utensil, such as a chopstick or wooden skewer, around the edges of the jar between the jar and the jam. Top with the prepared lids, close tightly, and process for 5 minutes in a hot-water bath (submerge the jars by at least 1 to 2 inches of water). Let cool, undisturbed, to room temperature.
• Besides making that telltale ping when it seals, the lid of a properly sealed jar should be slightly concave and not move when touched; if the lid springs down and back when you press your finger in the center, the lid is not sealed. Process it again, or store the jar in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature. Store jars in a cool, dry place.

Steps:

• Wash the strawberries in cool running water and drain. Remove the stems and hulls. Crush berries, one layer at a time, with a potato masher. Tip: I use very quick pulses, in my food processor, to break down the strawberries into large chunks, then use a potato masher to crush them, much easier to do, with less elbow grease! If using the Ball Jam/Jelly maker: Sprinkle the pectin evenly over the Pot fitted with the Stirrer. Add crushed strawberries and vanilla (if using) evenly over the pectin. Add butter/margarine to help reduce foaming. Press "Jam" button, the cook time will automatically default to 21 minutes. Press enter. Wait 4 minutes for the appliance to sound 4 short beeps, indicating that it is time to add the sugar. Add sugar gradually while Stirrer continues running. Place the glass lid on the pot. The appliance will continue to automatically stir your ingredient while it cooks. Stay within earshot of the Jam & Jelly Maker the appliance will beep again a the end of the process signaling jam cooking is complete. Press cancel, unplug the appliance immediately and immediately remove the glass lid. Remove stirrer using a pot holder. Skim foam, if necessary, from top of jam. Preserve jam immediately by one of three ways: Ladle the hot jam/jelly into hot jars (never into cold jars, as they could crack), cool to room temperature, then refrigerate and eat within 3 weeks. Ladle the hot jam into hot jars (or into plastic freezer storage jars) and freeze for up to 1 year. Or, my favorite was is to "water can" the jam to preserve the jam/jelly to be stored in a cool, dry place.

Steps:

• Place the strawberries in a large stockpot and crush them slightly with a potato masher to break them up a little and release some of their juice. Simmer the strawberries over medium low heat for 10 minutes.
• Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, seeds scraped from the vanilla beans, (you may also add the vanilla bean pods if desired after you have scraped the seeds from them - just remember to take them out before you start filling your jars!) butter and sugar and stir well until sugar is dissolved.
• Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat and boil hard for 20 minutes, stirring frequently (be careful, this has a tendency to spit at you and boiling sugar burns are unpleasant!), until it has reduced and thickened a bit. You may test for gel at this point if deisred.
• Remove from heat and stir constantly for 3 minutes to redistribute the fruit evenly through the jam and prevent it from floating to the top of your finished product.
• Ladle jam into hot half pint (8 oz.) jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes - adjusting for altitude.