{recipe} Easy Caramelized Strawberry Jam

Recently I made a pretty life-changing discovery, which is that I can make incredibly delicious strawberry jam with only 3 ingredients, and it’s super easy to do. Jam consumption in the household has skyrocketed, but since it’s so easy to make, it’s no big deal to turn out another batch.

I have lately fallen in love with coconut sugar. A lot of people tout its health benefits, but I can’t really speak to that. It tastes absolutely delicious though! Using coconut sugar in place of regular sugar gives this jam a caramelized strawberry taste that makes a not-too-sweet jam that is so perfectly rich and complex.

It’s so good, sometimes I just eat it by the spoonful.

RECIPE: Easy Caramelized Strawberry Jam
makes as much as you want; this recipe is totally adjustable

INGREDIENTS:

• strawberries, fresh or frozen
• coconut sugar
• lemon juice

For each cup of strawberries, you will need about 1/3 cup of coconut sugar and 1/2 tsp of lemon juice. For each cup of strawberries you will get about a cup of jam.

METHOD:

• Put strawberries into a large pot with a wide mouth. (I like to use a big cast-iron stew pot.) Turn heat to medium high. Once the berries have expressed some juice, add the coconut sugar and lemon juice.
• As the berries cook, mash them with a potato masher to smash them up and make them smaller. Stir frequently to prevent burning. The jam will bubble very vigorously so be careful of splashing hot jam!
• Cook about 15-20 minutes, until jam is firm and spreadable. You can take a bit of jam out and smear it on a cold plate to see if it remains firm. Keep cooking and testing until it’s jam consistency.
• Transfer into a sterilized jar. If eating within a couple of weeks, you probably don’t need to can it. If you want to properly can it to be on the safe side, you can check out this great resource.