Low-sugar Strawberry Jam

Recipes

Low-sugar Strawberry Jam
Less sweet than most jams, so the fruit flavour is intense

Serves900g

Preparation10 Mins

Cooking Time25 Mins

I have such wonderful childhood memories of the strawberry season when my mum would make jam. The house was filled with the deeply comforting aromas of intense, syrupy, well-ripened strawberries. Feeding five children meant that Maman’s jam-making was a small cottage industry – she’d make about 10 litres at a time! (The quantity in this recipe is far less challenging.) She’d skim the froth from the top, and that’s the part my siblings and I would get to eat first. What a gorgeous treat! Often jams are too sweet, which disturbs me. Though my pâtissiers didn’t approve, many years ago I waged war on sugar and especially the quantities we were using in my kitchen. I won! So now my pâtissiers are happy to make a low-sugar jam that’s more colourful and certainly less sweet than others, which means that the fruit flavour triumphs.

Ingredients Required

For the jam

900g: Strawberries (Buddy, Gariguette or Mara des Bois), chopped

250g: Caster sugar

7g: Pectin, fruit or jam pectin is best

4 Tbsp: Water

3 Tsp: Lemon Juice

To seal the jars

80ml: Kirsch liqueur

Cooking Method

Step 1

In a small bowl, macerate the strawberries in 230g of the sugar for 15 minutes. The sugar will permeate the fruit, provide better texture and increase the flavours.

In a large, heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat, bring the macerated strawberries to a gentle simmer. Skim off any froth that rises to the surface and cook until the strawberries have broken down.

In a small bowl, mix the remaining 20g of sugar, the pectin and water and leave to one side for 15 minutes so that the sugar can absorb the water and form a paste.

Stir the paste into the warm strawberries, bring to the boil and continue on a boil for 3 minutes.

Step 2

To test if the jam is the right consistency, pour a tablespoon onto a plate and put the plate in the fridge for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat under the jam. Check the briefly refrigerated jam – it is correctly set if it wrinkles when you push your finger into it. If the jam isn’t quite setting, bring it back to the boil for 5 minutes and repeat the wrinkle test. Once the jam is at a setting consistency, stir in the lemon juice and put it to one side to cool slightly before pouring into sterilised jars.

Step 3

To create an airtight seal, gently warm the kirsch in a small pan and using a long match or lighter set it alight, then pour a layer of it over the jam. Quickly screw on each lid and leave to cool. This will create a bacteria-free vacuum inside the jar.

Unopened, you can store the strawberry jam in a cool dark place for up to two months. Once open, keep refrigerated and use within two weeks.

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