Strawberry Jam

Yet another strawberry post. There are reasons to this, you see. 1) There are a gazillion things you can do with strawberries, 2) Strawberries are expensive when they're not in season so you want to do as many things to them as you can... And when they're starting to get all mushy in the chiller, you can't help but start panicking as the idea that you've wasted P400 worth of strawberries hangs over your head. Luckily, there is something you can do with starting-to-get-mushy strawberries. Strawberry jam!


Now, pectin is usually used to make jam. It acts as a natural preservative, lessens the cooking time, and makes a more "gelled" jam. However, if you're not really making a lot of jam (e.g. you're only making it to use a few leftover strawberries) you can, like me, skip the pectin. The high sugar to fruit ratio will gel the jam okay but you can add lemon juice for some natural pectin and preservative.

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STRAWBERRY JAM
(for small quantities)

Ingredients
1 part strawberry --- I used 1 cup starting-to-get mushy (overripe) strawberries, but you can use ripe ones.
1/2 part granulated sugar --- I used 1/2 cup sugar
Juice of 1/4-1/2 lemon, optional --- I didn't use any

Procedure
1. Crush the hulled strawberries to your preferred "chunkiness".
2. Put the crushed strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepot.
3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. --- If foam develops, just skim them off. They usually do develop but they also usually just disappear on their own as the jam boils.
4. When the jam reaches your desired thickness, take of heat and continue to stir for about 5 mins.
5. Transfer to a mason jar/container.
6. Cool.
7. Refrigerate.

Note: Keep the no-pectin jam in the refrigerator. It can keep for about 2-3 weeks.