2 years back I had been to UK for a holiday, that time I found some strawberry preserves in Tesco. I brought a couple of bottles for my family, but they too got over in a jiffy. The jam that I made today is just like the jam that we got from UK. It has those chunks of strawberry and tastes awesome.
Every morning my daughter has chapati and jam for breakfast. This only concerns me because the store brought jam has preservatives added to it. Making this jam at home was a great achievement. Daughter was excited when I told that I am making jam and even when I was making the jam, she was just jumping in the kitchen and trying to see how the jam was getting cooked. Finally she got a chair and stood on top of it to get a better view of the jam.
After the jam was ready, she had it for dinner with chapati. She loved it. Hubby just keeps saying that the jam tastes just like the jam we had bought from UK. The taste of the jam improves on the next day. Since strawberry has natural pectin, do not add any pectin into this. Lemon juice acts as a natural preservative making this jam healthy.
Strawberries are rich in Vitamin C and are packed with antioxidants. They promote overall health as they are rich in folate, potassium, manganese, dietary fiber, magnesium and other nutrients. Consumption of strawberries helps fight cancer, helps make the skin wrinkle free, promotes eye health, regulates blood pressure and fights bad cholesterol. These are few health benefits that I have listed, but there are many more. Hence don’t miss them this season when you can get plenty of strawberries. You can eat them in a variety of ways – add them to milk and make strawberry milkshake, strawberry cake or make a salsa (recipe coming soon) or add them to kheer and make phirni.
You can serve this strawberry jam with chapatti or spread it on bread slice.
Ingredients: Prep. Time: 45 Minutes,
Makes 500 grams jam
40-50 strawberries
1 and ½ cup powdered sugar
1 lemon
Procedure:
Step 1: Wash the strawberries and pat dry. Cut the stems and leaves.
Chop the strawberries into small pieces.
Step 2:Add all the chopped strawberries in a blender and make thick
puree. Just run the blender for ½ minute. Let some strawberry chunks remain in
the puree.
Step 3: Heat a kadai/a deep bottomed pan, add the strawberry puree
and let it simmer on low heat. Keep stirring in between.
Step 4: After 10 Minutes, add the powdered sugar and mix well.
Step 5: After
another 5 minutes, add lemon juice from 1 lemon. Mix well and let it simmer till the jam
thickens.
Step 6: Keep stirring in between to avoid sticking to the bottom of the
utensil. You will notice that the color of the puree changes from light pink to
beautiful dark pink. At this stage you have to continuously or stir else it
will stick to the bottom.
Step 7: To check if the jam is ready, drop a few drops of the
jam on a plate and run your finger to check the consistency. It should not be
runny.
Step 8: Transfer the contents into an air tight jar. Next day store
it in the refrigerator. This jam stays good for 2-3 weeks in refrigerator.
Note: You can switch off the gas when the jam reaches the
consistency that you desire. Remember that it will thicken more from the heat of
the pan after switching off too.
My family loves it a bit pulpy and not like thick jelly like store bought mixed fruit jams.
If you don’t want the strawberry chunks in the puree then, blend
more.
Do not add water at any stage.
