easy strawberry jam
4 cups crushed strawberries
3 cups sugar (you may use other sweetener acc’d to its directions, but may have to thicken the jam with low sugar pectin or gelatin later)
1/4 cup lemon juice
in a heavy bottomed sauce pan mix ingredients together (i used a small dutch oven that has no legs)
stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved
slowly bring heat up until mixture is boiling . a full rolling boil you will need to stir often/constantly to prevent burning.
boil for 10 minutes then do the cold plate test. if it passes the cold plate test then its ready for canning or freezing. unless your like me, in which case its eaten almost immediately.
cold plate test:
put 2 plates in the freezer for a minimum of 10 minutes.
put a tablespoon of the jam on the plate ,return to freezer for 1 minute.
run finger thru jam, if the jam stays put and doesnt try to run together , then its ready for canning ,freezing or consumption.
the actual recipie calls for 4 cups of sugar, but i felt thats to sweet. even with all the sugar, its still better for you than the store bought jam where more than 1/2 the ingredients are unpronounceable.
