Look at these strawberries!
Look yummy, don’t they?
Today I’ll tell you how to turn strawberries into scrummy homemade jam in less than 15 minutes. You know, in slightly longer than the time it takes you to read a post on The Money Principle, you could wind up with delicious, free from preservatives and rubbish, strawberry jam.
What you need?
To make jam, you need the ingredients. Obviously.
To make jam in less than 15 minutes you need three kitchen appliances:
#1. Breadmaker that makes jam
I’ve written about the place of honour that THE BREADMAKER ought to have in any household that wants quality at acceptable price. This was about making bread.
Thing is, most advanced bread making machines also have a programme for making jam.
If you don’t have a breadmaker, get one! The economics is very clear; it will pay itself in about three months. Choose a good one.
#2. Strawberry cutter
This is what it looks like. It costs couple of pounds (from ALDI) and when I bought it John laughed himself under the table. My men still call it rude names.
This simple and cheap plastic implement saves me a lot of time when cutting strawberries.
It certainly reduced the preparation time of the strawberry jam by 20 minutes (may seem unimportant but an hour of my time costs quite a bit).
#3. Measuring jug
Now this was rather inspired and John’s idea to boot.
Instead of pouring the hot jam in the jars using a large spoon – this takes time and you need asbestos fingers to withstand the heat – I used a measuring jug.
Ingredients
You know that I like counting things.
I’ve counted the ingredients on every jar of jam and marmalade in ALDI, TESCO’s, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. They contain on average 5 ingredients, including the controversial glucose-fructose syrup.
Homemade jam is made from two ingredients: strawberries and sugar.
To make one dose of jam in the breadmaker you need:
- 600 g chopped strawberries; and
- 400 g sugar
Preparation
Start by cleaning the strawberries.
Chop them in average sized pieces.
Put half of the strawberries in the breadmaker pan; pour half of the sugar. Than place in the rest of the strawberries and the rest of the sugar.
Put in the breadmaker and select the programme for jam. Lower the time to 1 hour and 40 minutes.
That is it.
When the programme is finished pour the hot jam in small, clean and dry jars. Put the lids on immediately.
When the jam has cooled off store in a dark cool place. If you have space, you can keep your jam in the fridge.
How to make this cheaper?
How much making this jam costs you will depend on the price of the strawberries. At the moment strawberries are in season in the UK and I bought lovely, sweet ones from Scotland – 800g of strawberries for £1.
You can make this cheaper if you pick your own strawberries. For the nearest farm visit PickYourOwnFarms. It is not only that the fruit is fresh but also you can make a great family day out of it.
Finally…
In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have made strawberry jam – this is one more temptation I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist for long.
On the other hand, my heart feels with warmth every time I see the jam jars. And own son loves the jam on freshly made bread when he comes back from school. Teenage boy: if you see them feed them!
I think that we can do this in the crock pot too! Will google recipes.
@Michelle: I think you may be right and it will work in the slow cooker. At a guest, the recipe will be the same – 600g fruit to 400g sugar (I didn’t put pectin in and some would do). My issue will be the timing – how long to keep it in the slow cooker. Let me know when you find something.
Looks delicious! Enjoy!
@Crystal: I have been, my friend. Enjoying this is. Now, I’m getting my self into an exercise regimen :).