• RSS
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Google+
Posted by Maxine Cleminson - - 2 comments

I'm feeling a bit bereft.  Lots of my lovely friends here in Texas are buggering off.  I'm trying not to take it personally, but really?!  Azerbaijan?  Borneo?  Scotland?  Do any of these exotic places really compare to Houston, Texas?  The only upside is that I'm getting my freezer and pantry nicely restocked!  And some of the donated food items are things I would never think to buy myself, so it's forcing me to come up with new culinary ideas ... always a bonus!


Take for example, the 1lb bag of frozen strawberries I found myself the proud owner of.  I've always bought fresh before and didn't really know what to do with them, until inspiration came in the form of my bread machine.  I noticed as I was putting it away the other day that it has a rather random 'Jam' setting.  So I wondered whether the frozen strawberries could be used to make up some yummy Strawberry Jam?!  Turns out they can!



You will need:


  • 1lb (16oz) bag of frozen, unsweetened strawberries
  • 3-1/4 cups of sugar
  • A large preserving jar, or 2 normal jars - washed in very hot water and air dried.
  • A bread machine with a 'Jam' setting.
Defrost the frozen strawberries and then mash them with a potato masher or fork (don't puree them).

 




Put them in the bread machine with the sugar. Select the 'Jam' setting and press start.  The program on my machine takes 1 hour and 5 minutes... time for a cuppa and sit down!  When it's finished, carefully pour into the clean jar(s) and leave to cool for at least 3 hours before refrigerating.







Spread on warm buttery toast and enjoy with another cuppa!  Yum!




The verdict... delicious!  It's a bit runnier than shop-bought jam, but I guess you could add some pectin if you prefer it set more.  The best thing is it was sooooo easy.  Easy peasy.  It literally took about 5 minutes of actual effort and the machine did the rest.  I've made jam the normal way before and it's satisfying and fun, but a bit of a faff to be honest (all that messing about with thermometers or cold plates)!  This was so simple.  And just think of the possibilities... seasonal homemade gifts!  I created a gift label for this jar of jam to illustrate my point, and I would think it looks 'berry nice!



P.S. Thanks for the Strawberries, Heather!

2 Responses so far.

  1. Monica says:

    Wow! I had the pleasure of tasting this lovely jam this morning. It tastes like true homemade jam. If she hadn't have told me it was a such a simple recipe I would have been fooled. It was sweet and was perfect on a warm "crumpet" with melted butter. Delicious! Thanks Mamawithideas!

  2. Nina says:

    To quote Monica, Wow! Who knew?! How nice to find something easy, yummy and fun. We make a lot of smoothies with frozen berries and bananas (and sometimes hide good-for-you stuff like spinach and flax seed in them).

Leave a Reply

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog! I am always very touched when people take the time to comment too... it gives me a real boost!

Do check back soon as I make an effort to reply to all comments here!

Thanks again!
Mama Max
x

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...