Strawberry jam

Make breakfast or brunch extra special this weekend with Matthew Evans' strawberry jam recipe. It's so simple and satisfying, you'll never buy ready-made jam again, and it also makes a lovely homemade gift.

Credit: Gourmet Farmer

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg strawberries
• 1 kg sugar
• 1 lemon

Makes 1.5 kg

Instructions

Choose your fruit carefully. Really good, ripe fruit doesn’t have enough pectin to set firmly. Pectin is the same thing that gives fruit its firm texture, so as it ripens, the pectin level drops. You can add pectin (bought from good foodstores), lemon juice, or the pips of lemons and apples (wrapped in muslin for easy removal) to help jam set, but most people use unripe fruit. I like to use really ripe fruit along with some firm fruit and have a lightly set jam instead. That’s because I like the flavour of ripe fruit.

For strawberry jam heat cut, clean strawberries until warm, add the sugar and the juice of one lemon then bring to the boil. Turn right down and simmer for 12 minutes. Any longer and the fruit will start to get a stale flavour and colour. Pour hot into hot, sterile jars (a warm oven is good for sterilising) put the lid on while hot and leave to cool before storing in the pantry. Gently set jams, and those with less sugar, are best stored in the fridge.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.