Homemade jam is often talked about as a well-organized weekend project involving a copper basin and matching aprons. The reality? Three ingredients, an ordinary saucepan, and an hour of your time. That’s really it.
Ingredients :
- Strawberries — Gariguette, Mara des Bois, Charlotte — fragrant varieties make all the difference. Avoid the large, tasteless strawberries sold year-round: they are watery and the jam will be bland. You want strawberries that are red to the core and smell strong when you hull them. They don’t need to look perfect — the small, slightly crooked ones are often the best.
- Sugar — Classic white sugar does the job perfectly. Special jam sugar with added pectin exists for a faster set, but it gives a stiffer, less natural texture. For this recipe, ordinary sugar is more than enough.
- Lemon juice — It does two things at once: it helps the jam set — strawberry’s natural pectin activates better in an acidic environment — and it protects the color during cooking. One tablespoon from half a squeezed lemon. No bottled juice; it doesn’t have the same effect.
