Strawberry jam with less sugar
My mother used to cook jam every summer, in all possible fruit flavours: strawberry, raspberry, currant, blackcurrant, blackberry and greengage plum. She would align at least two dozens of jars on a shelf in the cellar, to which my brother and I helped ourselves all year round. They were fruity and with less sugar than the commercial ones, for as long as I remember my mother used as little sugar as possible in her baking.
This summer is the third one without my mum’s love in a jar. Sadly I don’t know where she kept her recipe so here I am in my London kitchen, experimenting with three ingredients: fruits, sugar and lemon juice.
I’m using a ratio of about 20g sugar per 100g fruits while traditional recipes recommend using 50 to 100g sugar. To my own surprise (first attempt!), it’s a success. It’s fruity, sweet (very sweet in fact) and the consistency is just right.
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For approximately 400ml jam:
600g strawberries, washed and hulled. I left them entire, even the large ones.
130g granulated sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
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Put the strawberries and the lemon juice in a large saucepan so there’s enough space for the mixture to bubble quite vigourously.
Cook them on a medium to high heat, stirring them constantly until they’re covered in their own juice.
Cook for another 10 minutes or until they’re completely soft, stirring frequently. The boil can be quite strong but watch out not to burn the mixture.
Once soft, pour in a fine sieve over a large bowl to gather the light strawberry syrup. Set the strawberries aside.
Measure the strawberry light syrup. You’ll need 200ml. If you don’t have enough, add some water to get to the 200ml.
Pour the syrup back in the saucepan on the lowest heat possible and add the sugar in one go.
Stir the sugar very gently until it’s completely dissolved. This should take about 10 minutes. It might be a bit hard to see if the sugar is dissolved because of the dark colour of the syrup. If so, put the saucepan at an angle to see if some sugar crystals can be seen on the bottom. Don’t be tempted to stir vigorously or turn up the heat to speed up the process.
Once the sugar is completely dissolved, stop stirring and turn up the heat to a high. Let the mixture bubble up without stirring until it’s reduced to a thick syrupy consistency. Adjust the heat so it doesn’t start burning or boiling over.
Check the consistency by spooning out a bit of syrup but avoid stirring.When the syrup is leaving a thick coating on your spoon, turn the heat right down and add the reserved cooked strawberries.
Gently stir the strawberries and the syrup for a couple of minutes.
Pour the jam while still piping hot in clean jars (washed in a dishwasher or sterilised in boiling water).
Tip: If using screw top lid jars, avoid closing the lid too tight as you may find it difficult to open it once cooled.
I like jars with pressure seals as they are air-tight, unlike jars with screw top lids that may have been previously released open with a bottle opener.
It’s the first time I’m making this jam so I don’t know how long it would keep as there’s much less sugar compared to standard jams.
My recommendation would be to cook only a small batch and feast on it within a few weeks.
