Strawberry Jam

Last weekend I had my family over for a Father’s Day celebration.  I made strawberry shortcake for dessert, using fresh strawberries from the farmers’ market.  I had about a quart of sliced strawberries remaining even after eating another bowlful for breakfast on Monday morning. It was time to make a small batch of jam!

I used David Lebovitz’ recipe for “no-recipe cherry jam” substituting the strawberries for cherries.  I really like this recipe because you can use whatever amount of fruit you have and then adjust the sugar and lemon juice accordingly.

With strawberries you can skip the first round of cooking since sliced strawberries are soft from the start.  Be patient after you’ve added the sugar and cook until you’re sure your jam has jelled.  I always get anxious with this step.  Although, if you don’t cook it long enough, the worst that can happen is that instead of jam you end up with sauce or syrup – not the end of the world.