Better Homes And Gardens Freezer Jam

For anyone who thinks that making jam takes too much time and energy, they need to read How to Make No-Cook Freezer Jam! Makes about 5 cups strawberry jam. From Brenda Score of A Farmgirl's Dabbles.

A Farmgirl's Dabbles/The Pioneer Woman

Growing up on a farm, with parents who always tended to a large garden, I was exposed to a good amount of fresh produce preservation. Under the stairs in our basement was proof of the many hours Mom spent canning in the kitchen.

Mom's bounty included jars of beans, peaches, pears, cherries, apple sauce, spiced apple rings, pie apples, pickled beets, cucumber pickles of many different kinds, watermelon pickles, tomatoes, tomato sauce, sweet relish, a variety of salsas, sauerkraut, various fruit jams and jellies, plus my great grandmother's recipe for rhubarb jam with orange slices. (Whew!) Ohhh, I can taste that pretty jam just thinking about it!

As if that weren't enough, in the big chest freezer, we had bags of frozen sweet corn kernels and raspberries, still sweet from the past summer's sun.

Preserving that much produce each summer took quite a lot of time. But come winter, it was such a treat to be able to run down to the basement for a jar and pop open the lid. That produce wasn't plucked fresh from the garden, but it was 100 times better than anything we could have bought in a can or jar at the store.

While I wish I had the time and energy to preserve all the same goodness that I remember from the farm, I simply don't. Instead, I focus on one or two canning projects each summer, and I make a few batches of freezer jam. I can't resist preserving some of that beautiful summer fruit.

In this post, I'm here to talk about no-cook freezer jam. If you've never made freezer jam before, I hope you'll be convinced to give it a try. It's just too easy. And imagine how wonderful some fresh berry jam would taste in the middle of winter, spread on toast or swirled into yogurt! My family especially likes to add a dollop of jam to a steaming hot waffle, along with some freshly whipped and sweetened cream.

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I was so very happy with our strawberry garden this year. This was the third season since we've added strawberry plants to our garden, but only the first year that we had any kind of sizable harvest. For the first time in I-can't-remember-how-long, I didn't feel the need to visit a local u-pick for fresh strawberries. We had enough sweet red berries from our very own garden. I was giddy!

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Freezer jam is so easy to make that I can literally hand over the recipe to our daughters to make on their own. I'm usually in the kitchen, working right alongside them, but they really don't need me there.

I am going to share how to make two of my family's favorite freezer jams: Strawberry Freezer Jam and Red Raspberry Freezer Jam. (Another one that we can't resist making each summer is Raspberry Blackberry Freezer Jam.)

To start the strawberry recipe, fresh berries are crushed in a large bowl. I like to use a potato masher or a rigid pastry blender, crushing the berries until they are in small chunks. Our daughters usually take turns, as neither one wants to miss out on the fun. Then sugar is added to the fruit and left to sit for 10 minutes.

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Then a box of pectin is added to a bit of water and quickly heated on the stovetop. The pectin mixture is added to the strawberries, and the thickening of the jam begins.

The jam is then ladled into jars. The project is less messy if you have a canning funnel to place over the jar rims, but this piece of equipment is definitely not a necessity. See that metal funnel in the photo above? That was once my grandma's. I wonder how many jars of jam she made in her lifetime.

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Freezer jam generally has a looser consistency than jam made the traditional way. With freezer jam, the fruit is not cooked, giving it a brighter, fresh-from-summer color and flavor. Traditional jams are made by cooking the fruit, placing the jam in hot jars, and then boiling the jars in a big pot of hot water—a much lengthier process that heats up the kitchen real fast.

This easy-to-make freezer version also requires a different means of storage, thus the name "freezer jam". It is not shelf-stable like traditional jam, so it can't be stored in the pantry. It must be refrigerated (for up to 3 weeks) or frozen (for up to 1 year).

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I know that some people don't like to store their freezer jam in traditional glass canning jars, afraid of the glass breaking in the freezer. But I've never had any issues with that, and I really do prefer glass over plastic. If you'd rather use plastic, there are some great options out there, like the one shown above with the raspberry freezer jam. Just look for these freezer-safe plastic containers in the canning supplies section at your own store.

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If you want to make freezer jam with fruits other than the recipes I have listed here for strawberry, raspberry, and raspberry blackberry, be sure to refer to the instructions inside the pectin boxes. With each different fruit, the preparation and quantities may vary, as well as the amount of sugar.

And here are some helpful tips to ensure that your freezer jamming goes perfectly!

Helpful Tips for Great Freezer Jam:

Always thoroughly wash jars in hot, soapy water before use. Then dry them.
Use firm perfectly ripe fruit for best flavor and set. Inferior fruit will produce inferior jam.
Measure ingredients exactly. Altering recipes or ingredients could cause the jam to fail to set properly.
Yes, these recipes do call for a lot of sugar, but don't alter the amount. If you want to use less sugar, look for SURE-JELL For Use in Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes in the pink box.
The finished product will not be as firm as a traditionally processed jam, so don't be alarmed. Embrace the spreadable consistency of this easy-to-make jam.
Because this jam is not cooked, it must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. It will be good for up to three weeks in the refrigerator, so store your jam in smaller containers that will be used up faster; I prefer to use 1-pint or 1/2-pint sized jars. Keep one jar in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer for later. When ready to use the frozen jam, simply place in refrigerator to thaw.

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