#10 Strawberry Jam

    Hi guys, what do you often have for breakfast? I often have bread and butter with it. Sometimes I feel like bored to have this kind of breakfast, but actually I don't have many other choices since I don't have much time in the morning. One day, I bought a strawberry in Walmart and it's really tasty. I would like to make one myself for a more fresh taste. Today I will show you how to make homemade strawberry jam, with real strawberry chunks inside. Of course, it's very easy to make.

Step 1
What you need:
500g strawberries
350g sugar
1 tsp butter
1 lemon

Step 2
Now we start cutting the strawberries.
The strawberries are washed and drained. 
Then we cut them into big chunks, because we are making chunky strawberry jam.
You just cut one strawberry into four pieces.


We need to marinade the strawberries first.
Here we have 350g of sugar and 500g of strawberries.
Pour half of the sugar inside first.
We will add the rest later.
Now we need to wait until the juice comes out.
This is a really important process.
After marinaded the strawberry, it will release the juice, so that the shape could be well preserved.
And your jam will have large chunks inside.
Stir it evenly, and leave them at room temperature for about 2-3 hours.
Or you can leave them in the fridge overnight.















Step 3
Now it's been about three hours. You can see how much juice has come out. It's ready to cook.
Before that we can prepare one lemon.
Roll it on the chopping board before using it, which makes it easier to sqeeze.
Cut the lemon into half.
Then bring the strawberry to the hob.


Step 4
Now pour the strawberries into the pan.
You can use a skillet, with a large heating area in the bottom, which helps to speed the cooking process.
Turn on the heat to high, then you need to add the rest of the sugar.
After a while, we add the lemon juice by squeezing it.
Catch the seeds with your hands. If you just cannot avoid that, use a spoon to remove them.
The lemon juice can work with pectin, which exists naturally in fruits. It could help to set the jam.
Then we add a nob of butter. The butte could help to reduce the foam. Meanwhile it adds flavor to the jam.
You won't taste the butte but you can tell the jam smells nice.
You may think there is too much sugar. If you don't need to store the jam for long time, you can use less sugar. But if you want your jam like the product you can buy in the market, with a long shelf life, it's better to stick to the recipe. What the sugar does is to preserve the fruit.

Step 5
To tell when the jam is ready, we have two methods.
First, use a thermometer. Once the temperature reaches 105°C, you can turn off the heater.
If you do't have a thermometer, here is an easy way. Drop a little jam on a small plate, which was left in the freezer for a while to make it cold. Remember to turn off the heat when you do this. Do not overheat the jam. You can see on the cold plate that the jam is chilled immediately, and it's already set. Then you push it with your finger tip. You can feel a thin film on the surface, and the texture is just like the jam. Now it's ready to bottle.

Step 6
Use clean and dry bottles.
You can let the jam cool for a little while, but remember to bottle when it's still warm.
There is some foam on the surface, and you need to remove them, because it contains air, which may affect the preservation as well.
Transfer into a bottle when it's warm. Everything should be finished when the jam is still warm. Leave one centimeter space in the bottle.
Try to keep it clean while the jam is still warm, which is the key to success.
Now screw the cap on. The jam is basically done.

It's time to enjoy the strawberry jam. You can also gift wrap the jam, which makes a brilliant gift. Write your note on the stickers. Labor it and then cover a piece of pretty paper on the top. Now we have a beautifully presented gift for friends or families.