Strawberry Preserve

Bursting with lovely flavour and full of fruit chunks, the strawberry preserve is a treat in itself. Spread it on toasts and paranthas, enjoy with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or eat it straight out of the jar. It is addictive! 

Making jam is such a pleasurable experience. Nothing beats homemade jam with fresh seasonal fruits personally picked and processed for making jam. This is the best way to preserve seasonal fruits and relish them for a long time. I have a variety of jams in my pantry that I made some time ago. Once you make jam at home, you will never like the store-bought version that generally has loads of preservatives, artificial colour, pectin and flavouring agents.

Last week during a weekly trip to the fruit mart we got two packs of strawberries and made Jam. It is a spreadable jam with loads of fruit pieces bursting with flavour.

Strawberry Preserve

Ingredients

• Strawberries
• Sugar (depends on the quantity of fruit)
• Lemons

You will also need-

A plate kept in the freezer

Instructions

Wash the strawberries; keep them for some time to dry.

Hull the strawberries and chop them.

Measure the chopped fruit and transfer it to a heavy bottom steel wok.

Measure equivalent quantity of sugar.

Mix sugar and fruit well and let it rest for two hours. The strawberries will become soft and release juice.

Add the juice of half lime to every cup of chopped fruit.

Cook over medium flame stirring at short intervals to avoid jam from sticking to the bottom and burning.

When the quantity of jam reduces and starts attaining jam-like consistency, reduce the heat and cook on low flame stirring constantly.

To test doneness, drop some jam on the cold plate. Return to the freezer for a minute. Run your finger through the jam on the plate. If it doesn't try to run back together, it is done. If it is runny, it needs to be cooked for some more time.

While the jam cools, sterilise the bottles. Place the washed and dried bottles with the lids in the oven. Set the temperature to 100 degrees and set the timer to 10 minutes. Remove the bottles and their lids from the oven. 

Ladle hot jam into the jars leaving ¼ inch headspace. Secure the lids tightly.