Strawberry Freezer Jam

It's strawberry season here in Minnesota!  My daughter, Kim and granddaughter, Alana, did our annual trip to the strawberry fields yesterday morning before it got too hot (it's been humid and in the 90's) lately) and both got two ice cream buckets filled with huge beautifully ripe berries.  I decided I wanted to make a double batch of freezer jam this year with one bucket.  It's great on ice cream, toast, waffles and even to put in my oatmeal bars (recipe on this site also).  I might make a pan to take to work on Monday because everyone really liked them in the past!  This jam is super easy to make and I know some people use other type of fruit to make other flavors..I have never tried it though so can't say how it turns out.  It would be fun to try though with raspberries, blueberries etc.  I had some on toast with butter this morning and it was so so good! I have used other recipes in the past and it turned out kind of runny..tasted great, but kind of messy on toast, but this one IF YOU FOLLOW IT PERFECTLY comes out thicker -perfect to me.  Don't take shortcuts and make sure you have fresh Sure Jel and products and it should be great.

STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM: I doubled the recipe and it turned out good. This is the single version:

1 quart fully ripe strawberries -these are when they are still whole. (when crushed they will be 2 cups approximately)
4 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 box pectin (I use Sure Jel)

You will need CLEAN, DRY either plastic containers with lids or jars-I used jelly jars-they are 1 cup size and doubled the recipe and got 11 jars plus a enough to put in the fridge extra for trying it out.

Rinse strawberries gently with clean water (I put a few at a time in a strainer and sprayed clean water on them well and placed on a paper towels).  stem them and crush them (I stemmed them and placed them in a deep bowl, then just used my hand mixer and on lower speed just busted them up leaving some smaller chunks-worked great).  You need EXACTLY 2 cups of crushed berries.

Add sugar and mix well-LET STAND 10 MINUTES, stirring occasionally.

Mix water and pectin in medium saucepan; bring to a boil on high heat stirring constantly.  boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and add to fruit mixture; stir constantly for THREE minutes or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy.  it will thicken more as you stir.

Fill prepared containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops.  Wipe off top edges and immediately cover with lids.  If you spilled jam on outside of jars wash off with wet warm washcloth well once sealed.

Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Your jam is now ready to use and can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or frozen for one year.  Thaw frozen jam in the fridge before using.