The Best Homemade Strawberry Jam
Strawberry season may be behind us but that doesn’t mean you still can’t enjoy the fruits of your labour all winter long with this delicious homemade strawberry jam!
Regular store-bought jam is filled to the brim with sugar. Just look at the ingredients in this popular store-bought jam. Sugar, glucose (sugar), and glucose-fructose (sugar).
The negative health impacts of high sugar consumption is mainly due to the added sugars that are present in the Western diet.
Another concerning ingredient is citric acid.
What is Citric Acid?
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While it’s naturally present in citrus fruits, it’s not economical to use fruit-derived citric acid as a food additive. Most citric acid found in food is a commodity chemical produced by feeding simple carbohydrates to Aspergillus niger mold and then processing the resulting fermented compound.
The mold is often genetically modified as well as feeding genetically modified sugars as carbohydrates to the mold. Calcium hydroxide and sulfuric acid are often used in processing.
What About The Pectin?
Many fruit jams are made with the addition of pectin for thickening. Pectin is found naturally in some fruits like apples, but it’s not so good when food companies get ahold of it.
My go-to for homemade strawberry jam used to be Certo but I ditched it as soon as I read the ingredients!
Jam had been made for centuries before Certo came along so how was jam made? Fruit jam can be made with just fresh fruit, lemon juice, and sugar.
Jam made without pectin is a little softer and looser than jam made with pectin, but learning this technique means that you can make jam at almost any time with ingredients you probably have on hand.
The Best Homemade Strawberry Jam
Now, for this recipe I didn’t use a high-pectin fruit, I used chia seeds! Let’s get to the recipe and then I’ll share why chia seeds are now my go-to pectin replacement.
Ingredients
- 4L organic strawberries
- ¾ c organic sugar
- 1 cup chia seeds
*pectin needs sugar to activate. I added a little bit of sugar because the berries take on a sour, tang taste as they boil down – it’s delicious and strong so adding a bit of sugar curbs that a bit.
Go ahead and adjust as you like!
Directions
Put pot on medium heat. Stir the strawberries frequently so they don’t burn.
When the berries are down about halfway, bring to a boil, add sugar and chia seeds, keep at a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and put in mason jars.
Allow it to cool (or not) and enjoy your homemade strawberry jam! It won’t last long because it really is that delicious!
Makes about 5 125ml mason jars (guessing). You can also freeze, as is.
Use in ice cream, pancakes, toast, muffins, tarts, smoothies, or enjoy it in a bowl with peanut butter!
Why Chia Seeds in Homemade Jam
Using chia seeds in place of store-bought pectin is one of my favourite food switches.
Pectin is not necessary as it’s only added for the “gel” factor and isn’t actually necessary for canning. Plus, pectin requires sugar or sugar alternative to activate. It’s easily replaced with the addition of high pectin fruits such as apples, or chia seeds. With a quick switch you can decrease the added sugar content of any recipe!
Chia seeds are a great source of essential minerals and an easy way to get them in the diet. They contain large amounts of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, plenty of high-quality protein, and several essential minerals and antioxidants.
If you have any kind of digestive or colon issues, or diabetes, chia seeds are something you should incorporate into your diet. A single ounce has 11g of fiber!
They are an excellent source of fiber and may improve digestive health, blood levels of heart-healthy omega-3s, and risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.
The other really cool thing about them is their ability to absorb 10-12 times their weight when placed in another liquid. This makes them great to use for things like an egg replacement or, as in this case, pectin alternative. They’re also fantastic in smoothies, yogurt, oatmeal, salads, or baked goods.
When added to a jam recipe, the chia seeds absorb the juices from the fruit and create the “gel” factor.
I hope you absolutely enjoy the ease and flavor of this strawberry jam recipe. You can easily switch up the fruit and create your own fantastic homemade jam recipe!
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