Strawberry Freezer Jam

We made strawberry freezer jam for the first time earlier this summer. I never realized it was so easy! Here it is: mash fruit, combine with sugar and pectin, stir, let stand, freeze. So easy right! Just FYI, don't be tempted to use your food processor or blender to make the process go quicker. You'll end up with strawberry syrup instead. That's what I did the first time. I learned my lesson and this time we used a potato masher as directed. It wasn't too bad. We used 10 pounds of strawberries and that made 18 cups of jam. It took us about 2-3 hours, mostly in hulling. If you only do a couple pounds you could get it done in an hour. Here's the process, photo style: (recipe at the bottom)

Hull the strawberries with a paring knife. Hold the knife at an angle like below and turn either it or the strawberry. 

Tada! FYI, this is the longest step, so have some good music going.

Mash your strawberries with a potato masher. Measure them out so that you know how much pectin and sugar to add. Kyle came up with the genius idea of mashing them in a giant measuring cup. I love that guy!

Calculate how much pectin and sugar you need (from the recipe below) and stir. Then spoon into containers.

After those have set for half an hour, let them take over your freezer like so:

Enjoy with fresh-baked brioche! Post to come :) P.S. I'll probably cheat and use this picture for that post too. I hope you're okay with that. 

Strawberry Freezer Jam

source: Ball Instant Pectin container

For every 2 cups of jam you'll need:

12/3 cups mashed strawberries (we got about 11/3 cup per pound)

2/3 cups sugar or splenda

2 tablespoons Ball Instant Pectin

Don't exceed 6 jars per batch or it might not set. That's about 3 1/3 pound per batch.

1. Hull, mash and measure strawberries

2. Stir required amount of pectin and sugar in a bowl.

3. Stir into strawberries for 3 minutes

4. Ladle into clean freezer containers leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Let stand for 30 minutes.

5. Freeze or enjoy!