Strawberry jam

To say that I have always dreamt of making my own jam is an admission I would be scared to make.But it is true. When I was a child, nothing spelt winter more than my mother making and bottling tomato jam, which I would then enjoy for the rest of the year. I knew I would attain Domestic Divadom the day I could do similar.
And yet, though I made and bottled strawberry preserve last week, I just couldn't muster up the courage to attempt jam. Not, that is till I stumbled upon Namita's wonderful blog, Ambrosia. I fell in love with her attitude towards cooking, and I just had to try out her recipe for strawberry jam. Crest Awesome!

Ingredients:

Strawberries

Sugar (depends on quantity of fruit)

Lemons

 

Method: 

Wash the strawberries; keep them for sometime to dry.

Hull the strawberries and chop them.

Measure the chopped fruit and transfer to a heavy bottom steel wok.

Measure equivalent quantity of sugar.

Mix sugar and fruit well and let it rest for two hours. The strawberries will become soft and release juice.

Add juice of half lime for every cup of chopped fruit.

Cook over medium flame stirring at short intervals to avoid jam from sticking to the bottom and burning.

When the quantity of jam reduces and starts attaining jam like consistency, reduce the heat and cook on low flame stirring constantly.

To test doneness, drop some jam on the cold plate. Return to freezer for a minute. Run your finger through the jam on the plate... if it doesn't try to run back together, it is done. If it is runny, it needs to be cooked for some more time.

While the jam cools, sterilise the bottles. Place the washed and dried bottles with the lids in the oven. Set the temperature to 100 degrees and set the timer to 10 minutes. Remove the bottles and their lids from the oven. 

Ladle hot jam into the jars leaving ¼ inch head space. Secure the lids tightly.