Strawberry Jam

For the past two years, my breakfast has always been coffee, a pair of toast with butter and STRAWBERRY jam. Call it a habit, routine, obsession, compulsion, fascination, fixation, enjoyment, or whatever but that's my brekky. Of course, my youngest son, David, has followed me. 

So, I thought of making my strawberry jam. This recipe was created with two considerations. First, I only have a small amount of strawberries (because I devoured the rest, very sweet). Second, I want to see how this adventure turns out before I make big batches.

Strawberry Jam

(Enough to fill a recycled bottle with 370g capacity)

Ingredients

330 g (about 1 1/4 pint baskets) fresh strawberries, leaves removed and sliced

1 Cup of sugar

2 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice

Zest of 1 lemon 

Procedure

Using a wide  10-12 inch skillet, put all the ingredients together. Bring the mixture to boil.

Lower the heat to medium for 15-20 minutes or until it thickens. 

Testing for the set (ref. Preserving by Oded Schwartz)
Wrinkle test: Pour a little hot jam on to a cold saucer and leave it for a few minutes to cool. Push the jam with a finger; if it wrinkles it has reached the setting point. 


There are two other methods namely using a sugar thermometer and doing a flake test. For my recipe, I used the wrinkle test. 

I like this recipe because it's not too sweet and there's a bit of tart taste from the lemon. I recommend to adjust the amount of lemon juice according to your preference. You can also omit the lemon zest.

Cultural Trivia: Brekky - means breakfast for our Aussie friends