It was one o’ clock and I had almost finished my shopping at the farmer’s market. I stopped at a stall which had only two big boxes of fresh organic strawberries and the seller was happily offering them at half the price. I instantly grabbed one box and started thinking of how to preserve these summer treats. There wouldn’t be a better way than fresh homemade strawberry jam! I returned home with the big box in my hands and a big smile 
Fresh Strawberry Jam
All natural with NO preservatives and NO high fructose corn syrup!
Ingredients:
- Strawberries - 2 pounds, fresh and organic
- Sugar - 2 cups
- Lemon - 1 large, zested and juiced
- Cloves - 4-5
- Salt - a pinch
Instructions:
- After you wash the strawberries, make sure you pat them completely dry. This is very important to preserve the jam for longer time.
- Hull the strawberries, that means remove the stem and green parts and chope them into quarters or smaller pieces.
- In a heavy bottom saucepan, mix strawberries with sugar and crush them lightly with a fork. Leave them for half and hour so that sugar dissolves in the resulting juice. (This step is optional)
- I like to add 4-5 cloves but feel free to skip them. Add lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
- On a medium flame, let the mixture cook until it starts boiling. Stir the mixture periodically.
- Let it boil for 15-20 minutes, uncovered; until all moisture evaporates and it starts thickening up.
- You have to make sure it's completely cooled down before you pour it into a jar. Do not put the lid until the jam is completely cooled. Else the moisture will spoil all the efforts.
Tips
- At every step, you have to make sure there is no water content.
- The glass jar you use for storing the jam has to be completely dry.
- I did not sterilize the jar but if you want you can follow the directions here. I washed the jar and let it dry in the sunlight. At home, we used the same trick for the jars used to store pickles.
- I added only 1 1/2 cups of sugar because the the strawberries I used were really sweet and I like it on a slightly tangier side, so adjust the quantity accordingly.
- Keep it refrigerated if you wish to preserve it for longer time.
