I made jam from strawberries: it turns out tastier than jam! Top 7 recipes

Last year I had an incredible harvest of strawberries at my dacha. I made jam and compotes, and filled the freezer with berries. I also made strawberry jam for the first time for the winter. It turned out to be a delicious thing! Here, I hasten to share with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Previously, I only made jam - whole berries, a lot of sugar and very sweet syrup. Not bad either, but too cloying for my taste. And you can’t spread it on bread. But last winter, my neighbor Baba Vera gave me a jar of her jam - and it was something. Soft, delicate texture, taste of natural strawberries and killer aroma of berries and citruses. Either with toast, or with pancakes, or even add it to tea... My husband, children and I “sentenced” a 0.5 liter jar in one evening, and I got the idea to ask for the recipe. Baba Vera first held the line, and then surrendered.

The recipe turned out to be very simple

We take:

• 1 kg strawberries;
• 0.5 kg sugar;
• Juice of 1 small lemon;
• 25 g apple pectin.

For those who do not use chemicals

Pectin is a completely natural thickener made from apples.Have you ever tried apple jam? Remember how dense it is? This is because of pectin, of which there is a lot in apples.

By the way, any strawberry is suitable – ugly shaped, crumpled, crushed. If you are shopping at the market, feel free to take substandard ones. It turns out much cheaper, but the jam is still delicious. Just make sure that the berries are fresh and not rotten.

• Place the strawberries in a sieve and rinse under running water.
• Let it drain for 1-1.5 hours.
• We sort through: remove the tails, blades of grass and debris stuck between the berries.
• Transfer to a saucepan or metal bowl. Choose enamel or stainless steel dishes. Strawberry juice will react with other metals and oxidize. You don't need the entire periodic table in your jam, do you? I'm sure not.
• Add sugar to the strawberries and stir mercilessly. We are making jam, not preserves, so whole berries are not needed.
• When the strawberries release juice, puree the berries. I used an immersion blender - it's faster and more convenient. The jam turned out even, smooth and a little runny. And the neighbor’s grandmother crushes strawberries in the old fashioned way with a masher for puree. Her jam is textured, with fragments of berries, and thicker.
• Squeeze lemon juice into it, add pectin and mix the mixture.
• Place the pan on the stove and turn on low heat. We are waiting for the mass to boil. During the process, do not forget to skim off the foam and eat it, washing it down with freshly brewed tea. Mmmmm, delicious!
• Cook for 4 minutes, no more.
• Place the boiling mass into clean jars, close the lids and sterilize. I use a 0.5 l container. I sterilize in boiling water for 15 minutes.

The finished jam tastes very similar to pureed strawberries with sugar, only it is thicker and does not discard water.

For the purity of the experiment, I brewed a small portion of the classic “1 to 1” jam.

Regular jam without additives

• 1 kg strawberries;
• 1 kg sugar.

No lemon, no pectin.

I followed the proven scheme: washed, covered with sugar and pureed. I boiled it twice for 5 minutes and cooled to room temperature in between.

The jam turned out to be smoother in consistency, closer to liquid honey. The aroma is bright, without citrus notes, but more caramel. Well, the taste: a lot of sweetness, little acid. The kids really liked it, but my husband and I are leaning towards our neighbor’s recipe - it’s not so cloying and the lemon flavor is interesting.

But I didn’t stop there! I enjoyed trying different jams so much that I printed out a packet of recipes from the Internet and started experimenting.

The most delicious combinations of ingredients

I'll tell you about my personal top 5 delicious strawberry jams.

I used the same base: for 1 share of berries, 0.5 shares of sugar, acidifier and pectin.

Option 1

Strawberries, lime and a sprig of mint.

Magical delicate taste “with a chill”. The children called this recipe "mojito".

Option 2

Strawberries, lemon juice, vanilla and pepper.

Yes, exactly pepper! I found this combination on the Internet and was surprised: who cooks this?! But there was so much admiration in the reviews that I made a little jam to try. And you know: it’s really tasty! The pepper itself is not noticeable, it just creates an interesting spice and piquancy. It's like salt in sweet pastries: when you eat it, you don't feel it, but it affects the taste.

For 0.5 kg of strawberries, I took 4 peas of allspice, 2 black peppers and 1 tbsp. l. vanilla sugar. Before making the jam, I ground the pepper into powder. I added the spices at the very end, before turning off the heat.

Option 3

Strawberries, white vermouth, rosemary, balsamic vinegar.

Very interesting taste: slightly herbaceous, tart, fresh. In some ways it resembles “adult” candies with alcohol, only without the degrees. For breakfast with a cup of freshly brewed coffee - that’s it.

For 1 kg of berries I added 1 stalk of rosemary, 25 ml of vermouth and 5 ml of balsamic vinegar. I added spices and alcohol 2 minutes before turning off the heat. Immediately after this, I took out the rosemary to make the smell softer.

Option 4

Strawberry, star anise and cinnamon.

The jam turns out to be very rich, spicy, with an original “oriental” aroma. It is very tasty to eat it with hot herbal tea.

For 1 kg of berries I put 1 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick. It is better not to use the powder that is sold in bags - the smell is not the same.

I packed the spices in a gauze bundle to make it easier to get out. I added it to the jam a couple of minutes before the end of cooking and took it out as soon as I turned off the heat.

Option 5

Strawberry and kiwi.

For 500 grams of berries I took 2 kiwis. And I excluded lemon from the recipe - without it there is enough acid.

It tastes a little like strawberries and gooseberries, but more fragrant and “tropical”. Fresh, bright fruit jam - the children were delighted.

I peeled the kiwi and blended it with strawberries. At first I was afraid that red berries and green kiwis, when mixed, would give a brown color - but no, the jam turned out red, as it should be.

If you like a distinctly sweet taste, increase the amount of sugar to the classic 1X1. This recipe will not be cloying.

I didn’t stop at jams, and the experiments continued. I made a couple of dozen different strawberry jams. I made it a little at a time – a half-liter jar at most, just to try it. Some options turned out so-so, I won’t talk about them.But there were recipes that I was absolutely delighted with! These are the ones I will share.

Strawberry jam – different, tasty, unusual

I specifically looked for the most unusual combinations. And I found them!

Strawberry jam with roses

It even sounds like a song, let alone the taste... As my son says: “Fuck off your head.”

• whole dense strawberries – 0.5 kg;
• sugar – 1 kg;
• rose petals – 100 gr;
• citric acid – ½ tsp.

It is better to take a tea rose - it is more fragrant. But I didn’t have one, so I picked several ordinary garden flowers at the dacha, but I chose the most fragrant variety.

1. Rinse the berries and leave to drain in a colander.
2. Cover the strawberries with sugar. After 3-4 hours it will release juice.
3. Boil the berries over low heat for 5 minutes. Don't forget to remove the foam!
4. Remove the pan from the heat and leave for several hours.
5. While the jam is cooling, work on the roses. Rinse the petals in cold water and place on a clean towel to drain. Then cut them into long narrow strips.
6. Place the pan back on the heat. When the jam boils, add citric acid and petals. Cook for 10 minutes.

I made half a batch of jam. I put it in a sterile jar, sealed it and put it under the blanket until it cooled. The jam stood in the pantry for several months at room temperature and was perfectly preserved.

Strawberry jam with almonds and liqueur

An unexpected and very tasty combination. The whole nuts are put into the jam, they are soaked in syrup and taste like candy.

• strawberries – 1 kg;
• sugar – 800 gr;
• Amaretto liqueur - 2 tbsp. l;
• 10 g pectin;
• almonds – 100 gr.

Let's tackle the almonds first. If you have unshelled nuts, pour boiling water over them and leave for 10 minutes. During this time, the peel will become wet and peel off.All you have to do is rub the grains with your hands and they will become white and smooth.

• Cover the strawberries with sugar and leave for 3-4 hours to release the juice.
• When the berries “float”, add pectin and place the pan over low heat.
• After boiling, pour the almonds into the container.
• Cook the jam for 10 minutes. At the very end, pour in Amaretto and turn it off immediately so that the smell does not disappear.

I used this jam to make a sauce for cakes: I collected the syrup with a spoon and diluted it with boiled water. The biscuits turned out incredibly fragrant.

Strawberry-orange jam

I once cooked gooseberry-strawberry - it was one of my favorite recipes. Therefore, I immediately grabbed the “strawberry + orange” option. And it's really very tasty!

• strawberries – 1 kg;
• sugar – 0.7 kg;
• 1 large orange.

Cover the strawberries with sugar and leave for several hours. While the berries are releasing their juice, take care of the orange. Remove the zest from it. They use special knives for this, but I don’t have one. I cut it with the most ordinary potato peeler - and nothing, it did a great job. I made a very thin, translucent cut. The fact is that the white, loose pulp is very bitter; it is not added to dishes. You only need to remove the top orange layer; it contains all the aromatic oils.

• Remove the film from the orange slices and chop the pulp with a knife. You don’t have to try too hard - the loose orange will crumble during cooking anyway.
• Place the strawberries on the fire. When the jam boils, add the orange and cook for 10 minutes.
• Unplug and cool to room temperature.
• Turn back on and simmer for another 10 minutes. This time add the zest.

When I made this jam, the aroma in the kitchen was divine.

Strawberry jam with lavender

Are you already interested? So I couldn’t resist! I bought a couple of bunches of dried lavender from my grandmother in the passage and ran home to try what would happen.

Ingredients for this miracle:

• strawberries – 1 kg;
• sugar – 1 kg;
• citric acid – ½ tsp;
• lavender flowers – 50 gr.

I didn't have 50 grams. I plucked both bunches, but only scraped 30 grams. But that didn't stop me!

I covered the strawberries with sugar, added acid and waited for the berries to release their juice.

I boiled the jam, poured the flowers into it and started cooking. The smell was Mamma Mia! Lavender fields in France. At first I was afraid that the aroma would be too... I don't know how to say it. Cosmetic, perhaps? Lavender sachets for linen, lavender hair balm - that’s it. But no, it smelled very tasty - flowers and berries. And 30 grams per 1 kg of strawberries was enough. There was no desire to add more flowers.

The jam turned out to have an interesting herbaceous, fresh and spicy taste, without a hint of bitterness.

Strawberry with red currant

This is not jam, this is some kind of holiday! Fragrant, dense and holds its shape like marmalade. Okay, I exaggerated a little - but it is really very thick.

For 0.5 kg of strawberries I took:

• 0.5 kg currants;
• 0.5 kg sugar.

The recipe called for 3 more tablespoons of lemon juice, but I didn't add it. My red currants were sour, so the jam turned out to be completely unsweetening. But if you decide to cook according to this recipe, stock up on lemon just in case. You never know what kind of currant you come across.

First you need to bake the currants. No kidding. We take a baking sheet, cover it with parchment and pour the berries, cleared of debris and stems, onto it. And then bake for 15 minutes at 200 ^OC. Don’t overdo it – the berries should become soft, but not crumble into mush or char.

Ready? Now grind the soft currants through a sieve. Throw away the pulp and reserve the juice.

Well, then according to the usual scheme:

• Add sugar to the strawberries and wait for the juice to appear.
• We put it on fire. When it boils, add currant juice.
• Cook for 20 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly and skimming off the foam.

At first, the jam seems liquid, but in jars it hardens like jelly. And the berries become dense - you can decorate cakes or pastries with them.

Strawberry jam “Freshness”

This is the most complex recipe - and the most interesting. You will need a lot of ingredients:

• strawberries – 1 kg;
• sugar – 0.7 kg;
• pectin – 25 g;
• lemon ½ piece;
• fresh mint – 25 leaves;
• fresh green basil - 25 leaves;
• ginger root – 20 gr.

This recipe surprised me: why exactly 25 leaves and not 20? Well, there are different leaves: big, small... But if it says 25, I honestly tore off 25. And I froze the remaining greenery for tea for the winter.

You need to remove the zest from the lemon. I already wrote above how to do this. I squeezed the juice out of the remaining “skinned” lemon and set it aside.

I peeled the ginger and grated it into a paste on a fine grater. Finely chopped the leaves.

• I covered the berries with sugar and waited for the juice to appear. Then I brought the jam to a boil and cooked for 5 minutes.
• I set it aside for a few hours. When the jam has cooled completely, I added lemon juice, zest, ginger, pectin and fragrant leaves.
• Placed the pan on the stove and cooked for 10 minutes.

This is the most flavorful jam I've ever tried! Sweet and sour, fresh, thick. Either with tea, or in pies, or with pancakes. I highly recommend it and highly recommend it. You can swallow your tongue!