Strawberry season is coming! We’re starting to see strawberries already in Florida! That means pints and pints of beautiful heart-shaped, ruby-fleshed strawberries will be plentiful and priced so low that you can’t help but buy too many. Alas, what to do with an excess of fresh strawberries? What a delightful problem! Let’s make jam! Not the kind that requires huge pots of boiling water and fears of botulism with canning. We’re talking Stove Top Strawberry Jam.
Stove Top Strawberry Jam starts with strawberries that are cleaned and hulled. (Tip! Keep the hulls! You’ll see why. More on this later.) Add the strawberries to a stove pot along with a splash of water and squeeze of half a lemon to get the juices going. Cook over medium-low, stirring every now then, until the berries break down and the juices thicken. If it gets too thick, add a little more water. If it is too thin, keep cooking until the liquid evaporates more.
Once the jam is thickened to your liking, remove from heat and let cool. Taste and add a pinch of salt, which enhances the sweetness of the fruit. Add a spoonful of sugar, maple syrup, honey, or agave syrup, if desired. It depends on how sweet your berries were to begin with. Spoon into a jar, preferably glass- so pretty! and chill in the refrigerator.
Eat by the spoonful, swirl into yogurt, add to chilled milk, top your oatmeal, spread on your morning peanut butter toast. Try our fav- ladle jam onto a double scoop of vanilla ice cream with salty almonds.
And save the hulls! Here’s a brilliant idea- add the hulls to a pitcher of water, chill. Wonderful cookbook author of homemade pantry and ingredients, Alana Chernila says: “You have to taste it to really believe it. It doesn’t taste like strawberries; it just tastes fantastic. It’s super, super refreshing and wonderful” on the Splendid Table podcast.
Now, how to enjoy your delicious sweet jam?
- Spoon onto toast, English muffins, bagels, crackers
- Swirl into oatmeal
- Blend into a smoothie or milkshake
- Serve with cheese and crackers
- Mix with barbecue sauce for a quick glaze over chicken
- Layer with yogurt for a parfait
- Fold into whipped cream for dessert
- Eat as a snack by itself
