Strawberry Freezer Jam with Honey

Growing up, I distinctly remember eating fresh strawberry freezer jam that grandma would make every summer. The fresh, sweet, full flavor of strawberries was so good you could eat it by the spoonful. Or on toast. Or on ice cream. Biscuits. Or you know, by the spoonful. Did I mention that? So, when strawberry season starting getting closer this year, I was determined to make some freezer jam. Except. The sugar. Oh, holy, the sugar. Most freezer jam recipes, including the one on the side of the Sure Jell box, call for 4 cups of sugar to 2 cups of strawberries. Excuse me? This is like sugar jam, not strawberry jam.

Off to Pinterest I went. I found a great recipe using honey and a box of Pomona Universal Pectin and was sold immediately on the idea! I went off to the Carbondale Farmers' Market for my strawberries and stopped at the Neighborhood Co-op for the pectin. And then I went home and in an fail of epic proportions managed to completely mangle the recipe. It was tragic, friends, tragic. Note: It is by no means a difficult recipe... I just somehow read completely wrong on measurements and there was just no saving my jam. It was embarrassingly bad, especially for someone who normally fares really well in the kitchen! So, the next week, I went to the strawberry stand closer to my house and bought two more quarts of strawberries. Sadly, this time, I didn't have the time to drive out to the co-op and thus had to settle for what my local grocery store had in the way of pectin -- a box of classic Sure-Jell. Back to Pinterest. Where I discovered this recipe using honey and Sure-Jell. Score! Except. I didn't have quite enough raw local honey on hand when I got home. Seriously?! Whatever, I was pushing forward on this because I needed this freezer jam for a now week late Mother's Day gift. Oy vey.

For sticking with me this long on the story of the Strawberry Freezer Jam that almost never was... I give you my twist on Strawberry Freezer Jam made with honey and less sugar. Someday, I intend to try the full honey version, but with 4 half pints still in my freezer, that will probably be next strawberry season!

I will say this jam is a little runnier than traditional freezer jam, but it still sits nicely on toast and I hear it's pretty great on ice cream (which I haven't tried, just yet, myself). It still has that fresh strawberry flavor, and while it's not as sugary sweet as my grandma's, it is pretty darn delicious.

Ingredients: 2 quarts strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and roughly chopped

1 cup local raw honey

1 cup sugar

1 box Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin

4 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

In a large bowl, crush strawberries. I used a potato masher and coarsely mashed; I wanted some pieces of strawberries in my jam, so I didn't spend much time on this step. Sprinkle strawberries with 1 cup of sugar and give it a quick, thorough stir. Set aside.

Pour 1 cup of honey into a saucepan and stir in one box of Sure Jell. Mix well; add one cup of water and stir well again. In a small cup, add 4 tablespoons of water to 4 tablespoons cornstarch and mix until cornstarch is fully dissolved. Combine into the honey mixture on the stove. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil, while stirring constantly, and boil for one full minute. This mixture will thicken up fairly quickly over the heat.

Remove from heat and pour honey mixture over strawberries, stirring until well mixed. Scoop your hot jam into clean half pint jars. Be sure to leave about half an inch of room at the top of each jar for expansion during freezing. Leave the jars out at room temperature for 24 hours and then move to the freezer. This will keep for about 3 weeks in the refrigerator and up to one year in the freezer.

Yields: 8 half pint jars of freezer jam

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