Comments on: How to Make Strawberry Jam: Hot Damn, This is Good Jam

By: How to Make Raspberry Jam: Ooooh La La! It's Music to Your Lips! | Intimate Weddings - Small Wedding Blog

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:29:04 +0000

[...] Sterilize your utensils, lids and jars. (I wrote about how to do this here.) [...]

By: David

David — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:24:49 +0000

good point, thank you, I read into the sentence a little too much, good clarification for others I hope

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:02:26 +0000

Actually David, I didn’t use the term “pop up” just “pop”. Sorry for the confusion. The pop actually happens when the lid sucks down as opposed to the traditional popping up when opening a new jar.

Here’s the text: “Remove from water and listen for the ‘pop’ of the jar lids. (I swear, that ‘pop’ is music to my ears!) This means they are sealed. As one canner put it, the popping sound signifies the jam ’sealing itself off to the outside world.’ Sometimes it can take several minutes for the popping sound. Check jar seals by pressing on centre of each lid. If the lid center is pulled down and does not move its got a good seal. If you’ve waited a few hours and the seal hasn’t popped, place jar in refrigerator.”

By: David

David — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:57:22 +0000

Interesting post, I love the idea of not using preservatives when the strawberries have their own!

I have a question about the popping section…when I buy jam in the store, I know it’s still sealed because the lid is sucked down, and it pops when I open it…however, in your post above you indicate that it should pop up indicating that it’s sealed and that if it doesn’t pop up, we should refridgerate right away to prevent it from going bad…that sounds counter intuitive?

By: Elaine

Elaine — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:10:00 +0000

Hi again:
I tried it again. Same problem. But I was thinking as I was approaching 30 minutes and afraid I would scorch my beautiful pot of jam. Maybe it’s my ceramic cooktop. Oversized pots sometimes don’t get even consistent heat. It drives me crazy and I hope to resolve this coming year. But even though my jam isn’t as set as I would like, it tastes and looks great. So, thank you for your terrific recipe!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:59:42 +0000

Thanks for the reply. My berries were very small. Took me hours to prepare. I may just try another batch, but unfortunately all I could find this time of season in Oregon are the larger ones from California. I’ll let you know how this one turns out.

By: Christina

Christina — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:46:44 +0000

Hi Elaine,

You are the second one who had this problem. I’m wondering if it depends on the type of berries. The berries I used were from an organic farm and they were quite small… not like the large ones found in grocery stores. I have no idea if this affects how long to cook them.

If you’ve waited a while and it’s still not setting properly, you should probably put them back in the pot and cook a while longer. I’m going to make a note of this in the post.

Please let me know how it turns out!

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:05:24 +0000

I just did up a batch. I love the color and taste. I followed your recipe to the letter. 30 minutes boiling to be sure. I did the periodic tests and the last one was thick but slightly moving. I did’t want to overcook, so I quit at 32 minutes. So, now it’s an hour later and it hasn’t setup like I would like. Will it over a day or so? Or do i need to redo.

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:55:01 +0000

If you simmered it for the allotted time, once it cools it should set just fine.

Would love to know how it turns out!

Christina

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:42:44 +0000

Jam smells delicious but it doesn’t seem like it is setting. Any suggestions???