Making Strawberry Jelly, Jam, & Syrup

As promised this blog will cover Strawberry Jam, Jelly and Syrup. Hopefully you have enjoyed your Apple Butter and Strawberry Preserves. So lets get started with shopping for the next projects.

If you have any fruit remaining after making preserves, they will work great. We are going to use the less than perfect fruit, medium and small sizes. There is no such thing as a bad Strawberry, just ones that don't work in our Preserves. If no fresh fruit is available or it is just too expensive, you can use frozen berries. Pick the packs that say whole strawberries, they work the best of all the frozen fruit. But use fresh if at all possible. Either way, you are going to enjoy the "fruits" of your labor.

You need 4 or 5 baskets of fresh fruit to work with to make jam, jelly and syrup. If you just want to make just one project, then just a couple of  baskets will do. If you use frozen berries you will needa couple of packs. Check the amount on the package to make sure you have enough for your cooking project. Place all the fruit in a large bowl or pot, then take your potato masher and get busy on the fruit. Don't stop till you have all the strawberries crushed; really the more mashed the better. If you use frozen, wait till it is completely thawed. You can also use a food processor. We are going to use the pulp for our jam. For the jelly and Syrup, we are going to use juice. What? You didn't think you can get juice from strawberries?  Strain the mashed pulp to get juice. It may take 30 minutes to get all the juice. Don't press the berries thru the strainer, this will cause little pieces of fruit in your juice. Many people own juicers. You can put the strawberries thru that and get your juice that way as well.

In a large pot put 6 cups mashed pulp and add 1/4 cup lemon juice (not the little plastic lemon kind), and 1 box of Pectin. Cook till you have a full rolling boil and then add 6 cups sugar. Stir till all the sugar dissolves. When it comes back to a rolling boil, time for 1 minute. Remove from heat or turn off gas. Stir just a little more to make sure nothing is sticking. Skim to remove foam. Prepare your jars, then ladle your jam into the jars til 1/4 inch from top. Clean the rim and place sterile domes and rings. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Let sit over night then check for unsealed jars. They will have to be reprocessed with new domes, or put in fridige to eat now.  You now have Strawberry Jam. That wasn't hard was it? It was pretty straight forward. Cooking award-winning jams and jellies is not hard to do. The only problem is when you try to skip steps or take shortcuts. Remember, Garbage in-Garbage out. Use good fruit and you will come up winners every time. 

Take the juice that you made and measure it. For jelly you will need 4 cups of clear juice, if you do have juice with pieces of fruit, strain it. If you don't have enough, take a freezer baggie and write Strawberry juice, date and amount. Keep working with more berries till you get enough juice. (If your berries turn out to not be very juicy, bring to a boil 2 cups water with the 6 cups crushed fruit. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool then strain.) After you have 4 cups of juice, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 box pectin in a large pot. Bring to boil then add 6 cups sugar. Stir till all sugar is dissolved. When you have a rolling boil, time for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit for a couple of minutes. Use a skimmer or a spoon and remove any film on the top. This needs to be done before you ladle into jars. Ladle into prepared jars up to 1/4 inch from top. Process 10 minutes and let sit over night. Check for unsealed jars. If you have any, reprocess. You will love the way the jelly looks. So very red. So clear. Be careful, don't be satisfied with just jelly and jam. Now we are going to make syrup.

You are not going to believe how simple it is to make Strawberry Syrup for ice cream or pancakes or waffles. You can also use this to make a Strawberry Coke (or Pepsi or what ever). You will find a way to use your syrup for anything that might use a syrup.

 Take 6 cups of strawberry juice. Add 3 cups sugar and 3 cups light corn syrup. Corn Syrup is on the syrup isle at your grocers. It is clear and very thick. Use a spatula and get as much out of the measuring cup as possible. Combine all the ingredients, boil and then simmer slowly till it is the consistency you like. Remember it is very hot, so be careful. I use bottles to put my syrup in. If you don't have any bottles, you can use a jar. If you use a jar, process it to make sure it stays good. Next time you get a chance, use your syrup and wait for the compliments. If you like pieces of fruit in your syrup, feel free to add some at the start. 

You have now made 4 different things with your strawberries. That is what you might call being frugal. You have no waste except for the core and the stem. You have turned a corner in your home-made work. You can now make Apple Butter, Pepper Jelly, Strawberry Jam, Jelly, Syrup and Preserves.

Our next project has not been decided. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

One suggestion has been to do Pepper Relishes with the leftovers from our Pepper Jelly.

Anyone else? My email is: jellymanga@GMail.com

I will be looking for your suggestions.