Strawberry Jam

When we visit my mum in Queensland in the September/October school holidays we always buy lots of strawberries from the farm down the road.  They are the best, juiciest and most full strawberries I have ever tasted.  They sell large ones, that are perfect as well as the not so perfect and 'jam' strawberries, little ones they can't sell at the market.  These little ones still taste amazing and are very cheap.  I think I brought back 6 kgs of strawberries.  I cut up and froze half to use in smoothies and cooking and the other half were cut up for jam.

Strawberry Jam 

                              3kg strawberries, hulled, halved

                              3kg white sugar 

                              Juice from 1/2 a lemon

Cut strawberries into whatever size you like.  I cut mine into quarters as I don't really like lumpy strawberries in my jam.  You can cut half into quarters and the rest into halves or even whole if you like fruity lumps in your jam.

Place strawberries in a saucepan and stir through sugar. Leave for 1-2 hours while sugar softens the fruit.

It really becomes juicy

Add lemon juice (fresh from my mums tree) then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until fruit is soft.

Cook mixture until fruit is mostly dissolved and jam coats the back of a spoon. Fill the jars with jam, somewhere I read that you seal the lid and turn the jar upside down and allow to cool and the lids will automatically seal. It seemed to work for me, when the jam was cooled I opened a jar and the lid popped just like it should do.  I also stored my jam in the fridge as it didn't set totally but had a good thickness to it, and I just want to make sure it won't go off.

I think I filled about 7 or 8 jam jars that I had tucked away for this occasion.

It is just so delicious on a piece of home made bread, there is nothing quite like your own home made jam.