Strawberries have always been rightfully considered one of the most fragrant, juicy and tasty berries, which both adults and children are always happy to enjoy. But, unfortunately, strawberries do not bear fruit for a long time, and you want to feast on them all year round. But what can you think of in order to keep the strawberries as long as possible and so that even in the winter cold this wonderful berry would be on the table?
Sterilization
First of all, it is necessary to sterilize the cans and lids. To do this, the first step is to thoroughly rinse them in soapy water and rinse several times. Well, now, perhaps, we should forget about all those methods of sterilizing cans that our grandmothers used - they are being replaced by simpler and faster methods:
- Place the jars in a cold oven.
- Preheat oven to 150 degrees and leave them there for fifteen minutes.
- Turn off the oven without taking out the cans.
- Sterilize the lids (immerse them in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, after which you can turn off the heat, but do not get the lids out of there).
Jam making
- strawberries - 2 kg;
- sugar - 1.6 kg;
- lemon - 2 pcs.
The strawberries should be sorted out and rinsed thoroughly, while removing all the tails. Then we proceed to lemons: they should be washed and the zest removed from them. A fine grater will help you with this. After that, you need to squeeze all the juice from the lemons.
Put the strawberries in a saucepan, pour sugar there, add the zest and pour out the lemon juice. Thanks to the lemon zest, the jam will have an extraordinary taste, and long-term storage will be ensured thanks to the lemon juice. By the way, it will give the jam a great density.
After that, you need to put the pan on fire and bring to a boil. In this case, we should not forget to stir its contents from time to time, as we need to dissolve the sugar as soon as possible. In addition, such stirring will help the berries not to burn to the bottom. When the sugar has dissolved, and the strawberry mass has boiled, you need to get rid of the foam that has formed, put the fire to the very minimum and cook the future delicacy for thirty-five to forty-five minutes. Then in the thickened jam it is necessary to add berries crushed with a pusher or a mixer. If it seemed to you that after cooking the jam did not get the desired thickness - do not worry, this will happen as it cools.
Conservation
Well, our jam is ready and now is the time to pour it into the jars. A ladle and a funnel will help you with this. By the way, you can use them at the moment only when they are dry. Try to pour the jam into each jar so that there is about half a centimeter to the neck. Accidentally stained necks can be wiped off with a damp, clean towel. Next, each jar should be tightened with a lid, but not rolled up.
Now you need a bigger pot. Jars should be placed in it so that none of them touches either its neighbor or the side of the pan; fill the jars with water and put on fire. There, the water should boil for about ten minutes, then you should carefully remove the cans from the pan and immediately roll up. Finally, be sure to wrap them in a towel and leave to cool at room temperature for twelve hours.
The jam you have prepared will surely please all relatives and friends. And even in winter, the unique aroma of strawberries will bring you back to summer again and again.
