Strawberry Jam with a Hint of Lemon

It’s probably been 20 years since I made jam.  I’ve been wanting to make it again for quite some time.  This week I was presented with the opportunity to make strawberry jam since I found a terrific recipe from Yvonne over at Stone Gable.  Also by chance, a visit from my out of town cousins landed me a flat of freshly picked strawberries yesterday!  So thank you Yvonne for a great recipe and thanks John, Di and Rose for the wine, strawberries and fabulous company.
This recipe can also be found at Kraft Foods using Certo Pectin.  Lemon zest optional.

Yield:  9 -   8 oz. jars

Ingredients

5 cups crushed strawberries

7 cups sugar

zest of 1 lemon

juice of half a lemon

1 tsp butter

1 package Certo Pectin (57 gr)

10 – 8 oz. canning jars with lids and rims

(all jam recipes seem to say not to double recipe, make separate batches)

Preparation

Heat water in a large stockpot  or canner. Wash 8 oz. canning jars with warm sudsy water. Rinse thoroughly. *Only clean jars, set lids and rings aside. Put jars into the pot and make sure they are covered with water by 2 inches. Gently boil water. Jars must be sterilized. Do not take them out of the water. Keep canner (stockpot) gently boiling.

Heat water in a small sauce pan to a slow simmer. This will be used to warm up the lids. Keep water slowly simmering. Do not put lids in yet!
Rinse and hull strawberries.
Mash 1 cup of strawberries at a time to equal 5 cups. A potato masher works great.

In a separate bowl measure 7 cups of sugar and set aside.
Put strawberries in a large pot and add 1 package of Sure Jell Premium Fruit Pectin(I used Certo) , zest of a lemon, lemon juice and butter ( butter keeps the foam to a minimum). Heat over medium heat stirring constantly. Bring strawberries to a rolling boil
Add sugar all at once. Stirring constantly bring the mixture back to a boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
Put lids (not rims) in the small saucepan and take off heat.
Take 1 jar out of simmering water at a time CAREFULLY. Skim off any foam that has formed on the top of the jam. Ladle jam into jars. Wipe off the rim of the jar with a clean damp paper towel.
Take lid out of hot water with tongs and place on jar. Screw on rims.
Put jars back in canner and process for 10 minutes. Take out of canner and put on a doubled kitchen towel.
As the jars cool, listen for that little"click" of the lids that tells you that they are sealed.
Let cool. Check that each lid has sealed by pressing the center of the lid. If it clicks or you can push the center down, refrigerate or freeze this jar because it has not sealed properly.

Enjoy !!