How to cook strawberry jam without bitterness. Recipe: Strawberry jam - cook for a long time, but it's worth it

Irina P., St. Petersburg:

I really love wild strawberry jam. But the daughters always grumble that it is bitter. There is a slight bitterness indeed. I thought about how to get rid of her. I added other berries during cooking - blueberries, currants. But with them, the taste changes. And the other day I went for tea to a neighbor in the country, and she treated me to her strawberry jam - without any bitterness! To my question, what is the secret, she willingly told that her grandmother taught her how to cook strawberries with a silver spoon: either stir, or simply put in a basin during cooking. I tried this method, and, lo and behold, the jam really turned out without any bitterness. And later I found documentary evidence of what they did so a long time ago. In the "Complete Encyclopedia of Russian Agriculture and the Sciences in Contact with It", published more than 100 years ago, you can read a recipe in which the foam from both sugar syrup and jam itself must be removed with a silver spoon.

Here it is, it turns out!

old recipe

“The berries just picked in dry weather are sorted out, cleaned of twigs, hung, they take an equal weight amount of the best refined sugar, put it in an untinned copper confectionery basin, barely moisten it with water, put it on the stove on a light fire and cook, stirring and very carefully skimming off the foam with a silver spoon. When the syrup is ready, fruits are poured into it, which continue to cook over low heat, but not at all interfering, but only slightly shaking the bowl.

The first, large-bubble foam that appears on the boil and is the same color as the boiled fruit is not removed ...; when a light foam begins to appear from very small bubbles, then it is collected by slightly shaking the basin, and carefully removed with a silver spoon. The jam is ready when the fruits become transparent.

Strawberries are good fresh - no doubt. But still, many people often have the need to conserve it. In this case, serious errors can be made, due to which the quality of the preserved product is lost.

Causes of bitterness of jam

Especially often this problem overtakes people when making wild berry jam. The most bitter, judging by the reviews, are strawberry fruits grown in a pine forest. Even cooking by itself does not cope with an unpleasant aftertaste. For some consumers, this property, associated with the chemical composition of the bones, does not present a problem. But others would still like to make strawberry jam without bitterness.

How to get rid of bad taste?

The easiest option is to use a combination of strawberries and fruits from other shrubs. In terms of aroma and taste, it is difficult to find a better solution. It is allowed to bookmark both blueberries and red currants. The latter is introduced in a small amount and added directly during the cooking process. Of the older methods, the use of a silver spoon (put it in while cooking) is suitable.

There is another old way: for each bowl with a capacity of 2 kg or a little more, put a peeled carrot. Then the vegetable will also need to be pulled out. Cooking with carrots continues until the berries turn dark and the foam disappears completely. In this case, there will be no recipes that can be implemented in 5 minutes. Usually processing takes about half an hour.

But even with strict adherence to all principles, a bitter aftertaste may still appear. And this happens regardless of the variety used. Whatever variety of strawberries is used, it can be overcooked. In such cases, it is usually found that bitter jam has turned out. To prevent this fact is quite simple:

• in the absence of proper experience, one must act carefully and monitor the dish;
• strictly follow proven recipes, and not try to improvise;
• try to cook everything in one go.

In order to be less interested in how to remove a bad aftertaste, one must strictly follow the standard requirements. To begin with, the berries are harvested and prepared with the utmost care. The collection is carried out on a sunny day, while it should be dry. Storage of fruits in open containers is allowed only at a temperature of about 20 degrees. Harvested berries must be used within the next 24 hours.

Before the start of cooking, the berries must be thoroughly sorted. Discard all immature and overripe fruits. Get rid of the deformed part of the crop, throw away all the tails and other garbage. Even the processing does not end there: the strawberries are washed under running tap water and thrown into a colander. Only then is sugar syrup boiled.

These techniques allow you to get rid of acute, unpleasant bitterness. However, the natural taste characteristic inherent in strawberries itself is not removed in this way. Additives of other berries immediately radically change the taste of cooked jam. The classic technique, which allows you to really make 100% sweet jam, was placed in century-old manuals. We are talking about the use of a silver spoon - but this must be done correctly.

Such a spoon is used to stir the jam, heated on the stove. The earliest foam cannot be removed if its color is the same as that of the processed fruit. They begin to remove the foam as soon as the light part of it appears, represented by extremely small bubbles. Every time the pelvis is shaken a little. And only after shaking the foam is collected.

Connoisseurs recommend processing berries into jam as quickly as possible. The recommended 24 hours of storage experienced chefs reduce to 6 or a maximum of 8 hours. It is advisable to divide the fruits of strawberries into layers, each of which is sprinkled with sugar. You can further reduce the risk of bitterness by adding some strawberries.

It is very important to carefully monitor the cooking process: even when using a silver spoon and other auxiliary techniques, burnt jam will invariably be bitter.

A few more subtleties:

• washing strawberries before cooking is unacceptable;
• it can be filled with water only for a short time;
• before making jam, the berries are kept in sugar for several hours so that they give out juice;
• stirring during cooking should be continuous, and red currants can be added no more than 1/6 of the total volume.

You will learn more about how to cook strawberry jam in the following video.

Strawberry jam, cooked from wild berries, is an incomparable delicacy.

It is much more aromatic than garden strawberry jam, but it has a characteristic feature: wild strawberries are bitter.

Moreover, a specific bitterness can be felt both in a fresh berry and in a boiled one with sugar. Why is this happening?

Why is wild strawberry bitter?

Connoisseurs say that it's all about the small bones that are in scarlet sweet berries. Moreover, strawberries collected in pine forests are most often bitter. Is there any connection with the bitter resin of the beauties of pines, it is not clear. But the fact remains.

Moreover, the bitterness is retained during cooking. Why are wild strawberries and wild strawberry jam bitter? It's all about hard small strawberry bones again. Unfortunately, they do not lose their characteristic bitter taste during the heat treatment of the berry.

Someone does not pay any attention to this feature, but someone seriously cares about it. Experienced housewives, fortunately, have long been using tricks that allow you to make the bitterness of strawberries invisible or even get rid of it.

However, you need to understand that there is another explanation for the specific taste. If it's not about the seeds, then why are wild strawberries and wild strawberry jam bitter? The fact is that not a berry can be bitter, but sugar burnt as a result of inept cooking. If it burnt during caramelization, then the jam will definitely be bitter.

How to get rid of wild strawberry jam from bitterness

There are several ways to get rid of forest bitterness and cook "normal" jam with a traditional taste. Some methods may seem strange, but they really work! Despite the fact that wild strawberries are bitter because of the seeds, you can remove this taste like this:

When cooking, add a handful of red or black currants to the syrup;

Boil strawberries with a small amount of blueberries or lingonberries;

Put a silver thing (spoon, fork) directly into a bowl with boiling berry syrup while cooking jam;

Boil the jam along with a large peeled carrot.

A mix with other berries gives strawberry jam an additional shade of taste and aroma. But the specific bitterness goes away.

The easiest way for those who want to preserve the natural strawberry taste is to put carrots in a bowl while boiling. The taste of the orange root crop will not affect the aroma of the final dish in any way. One vegetable is enough if the volume of jam is not more than 2.5 liters. When the berries darken during cooking, and the foam disappears, the carrots must be removed and discarded. This usually happens half an hour after the start of cooking.

It is important not to overcook the jam: in this case, it will not be possible to get rid of bitterness. To avoid burning, it is better to cook strawberries in one go.

If the hostess is concerned about why wild strawberries and wild strawberry jam are bitter, she can do without cooking. A great way to harvest is to simply sprinkle the berry with sugar and put it in the cold.

You can also try five-minute jam: bring the berry with sugar to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, pour into sterilized jars and roll up. Cool in the usual way, that is, upside down, and taste.

Another unusual way to cook strawberry jam- repeat the five-minute cooking for several days until the delicacy acquires the usual density for any strawberry jam. The scheme is this:

Start cooking in the morning, bring to a boil, cook for five minutes;

Take the jam out into the air under the sun's rays, tying the container with gauze;

In the evening, bring into the room;

Repeat the process in the morning;

Repeat cooking until the jam has the desired consistency.

During cooking, stir the contents of the bowl several times to avoid sugaring.

Wild strawberry jam recipes without bitterness

To prepare a traditional five-minute jam, you need to take the following ingredients:

Three glasses of wild strawberries;

Half a glass of red currant;

A glass of white sugar.

Sort the berries, rinse (very carefully) with cold water. Sprinkle strawberries and currants with granulated sugar and leave for a while. When the berry gives juice, bring to a boil, stirring slightly so as not to burn, and removing the foam. When the syrup boils, cook for exactly five minutes and immediately pour into jars.

The second recipe avoids sugaring(this is a common problem faced by housewives when cooking wild strawberries). Ingredients:

A liter jar of strawberries;

One and a half cups of sugar;

Half an orange.

Sort the berries, cover them with sugar and set aside for a day. Strawberries should give juice. You need to cook it in three steps. Bring the syrup to a boil, boil for five minutes, remove from heat. If foam appears, remove it.

After 15 minutes, turn on the fire again, repeat the five-minute cooking, turn off the fire. Squeeze the juice from the orange, pour into the jam and boil the mass for the third time. Arrange in jars, roll up and cool under a thick old blanket. It is better to store such jam in the cold so that it does not deteriorate.

Despite the specific light bitterness, it is wild strawberries that have a fantastic unusual aroma. In addition, getting rid of bitterness is quite simple if you use proven methods.

What family does the strawberry belong to? The strawberry plant of the perennial genus belongs to the Rosaceae or Pink family. The name Fragaria is translated from Latin as "fragrant". The berries are located close to the ground, so the Old Slavonic plant was called "strawberry".

East Asia, and according to some sources - South America is considered the birthplace of strawberries. Images of strawberries are found in drawings in ancient Greece and Rome. The doctor, priest and caretaker of the botanical garden of the city of Zweibrücken I. Bock was the first to describe strawberries in 1553.

plant structure

The leaves have a complex shape, located on long, 10-25 cm petioles. The edges of the leaves are serrated. The size depends on the species: the leaves can be small, medium and large. Below is usually pubescence.

The root system is fibrous brown. The roots are well developed and lie at a depth of 25-30 cm.

strawberry inflorescences

Inflorescences are on peduncles, a rosette extending from the root neck. Flowers are usually bisexual, but unisexual are also found. The petals are collected in a shield with many stamens and pistils. Strawberry flowers are pollinated by insects.

What do botanists call strawberry seeds?

Are strawberries a nut or a berry? Everyone is accustomed to calling the fruits of strawberries berries. Botanists believe that these are polynuts or false berries. The juicy fragrant red pulp is the receptacle, and the small brown seeds are the nuts.

Everyone's favorite delicacy is a pantry of the most valuable vitamins and microelements. The mineral composition of the berries is also unique. The fruits are rich in fluorine and cobalt, iodine, phosphorus, manganese. Strawberry leaves contain natural flavonoids, essential oils, mineral salts.

For your information! In terms of the amount of vitamin C, strawberries are second only to currants. There is more folic acid in fruits than in grapes and raspberries. Iron in strawberries is 4 times more than in apples and pineapples.

With diabetes of any kind, it is important to include strawberries in the diet. A low glycemic index (15-25 GI) and a special composition of berries regulate metabolism and protect the body from the accumulation of free radicals. Fresh or thawed strawberries can be added to fruit desserts, diet pastries, compotes. The main thing is not to overeat and consult a doctor in a timely manner.

It is permissible to include strawberries in the diet menu, since its calorie content is 30-40 kcal per 100 g of product.

What can be made from strawberries

frozen strawberries

If it is planned to prepare decoctions and infusions from strawberries throughout the year, freshly picked leaves and berries are dried, laying out a thin layer on a spread cloth in the shade or in special devices. Drink a glass of fragrant tea in the morning and evening.

It is useful to eat strawberries fresh, but you can prepare berries for future use and add them to a variety of dishes, drinks, and berry desserts.

How to freeze strawberries

Rinse the berries thoroughly, dry and spread in a freezer in a thin layer. When the fruits are frozen, they are put into containers for storage. In winter, the berries will be whole, will not crumble and will not stick together.

Vitamins for the winter

A delicious preparation is obtained if strawberries are rubbed with sugar without heat treatment. All useful substances and vitamins will remain in the mixture until spring. For this you need:

1. Sort the strawberries, rinse, clean from debris and let dry.
2. Add sugar to taste in prepared berries.
3. Beat the mass with a blender and remove for a day.
4. Arrange the delicacy in sterilized jars, roll up and put away in a cold place.

strawberry jam

strawberry jam

1. Sort the berries, wash and put in a bowl.
2. Sprinkle each layer with sugar and leave until the berries give juice. For 1 kg of berries, take 1.2 kg of sugar.
3. Bring the mass to a boil, remove the foam and remove from heat. Repeat this several times until the berries become transparent and the syrup thickens a little.
4. Cool, put in clean dry jars and put away for storage.

Why are strawberries bitter? The berries that were picked in the pine forest have a bitter taste. If you add a handful of blueberries, raspberries or red currants to the jam, you can get rid of bitterness. In old cookbooks, it is advised to put raw peeled carrots into boiling jam, and then remove them, then the bitterness will go away.

Strawberry compote

1. For 3 liters of compote you will need a liter jar of pure berries and 0.5 kg of sugar.
2. Pour the berries into a three-liter jar and carefully pour boiling water. Cover with a lid and wait 10 minutes.
3. Using a special lid, drain the water into the pan, pour sugar into it, boil.
4. Pour boiling syrup into berries, roll up and wrap with a blanket until it cools.

Important! Contraindications for the use of strawberries - pregnancy, age up to 1 year, hypersensitivity, allergies. In such cases, the delicacy will bring not good, but harm to health.

Description of garden and wild strawberries: characteristics, examples

As a fruit crop, strawberries have been cultivated since the 16th - 17th centuries. It is often mistakenly called a strawberry. Now there are more than 10,000 varieties.

Strawberries can grow anywhere except in marshy soil and dry sand. In those places where groundwater rises high or flooding occurs, the plants will die. After nightshade and next to raspberries, strawberries will hurt and will not produce a crop. In one place, strawberries grow and bear fruit for 4-5 years.

Before planting, the soil must be prepared:

• clear of weeds;
• neutralize from pest larvae;
• apply organic matter and fertilizers;
• dig up the earth.

strawberry blossoms

Why do strawberries bloom but not bear fruit? With an excess of fertilizers, seedlings begin to grow strongly (fatten) to the detriment of fruiting, may bloom and not produce fruits, although they need a lot of nutrients.

To get high-quality seedlings and propagate strawberries, choose 2-3-year-old fruitful bushes. After picking the berries, the aisles are carefully loosened. On the fruiting bushes, shoots of modification - mustaches - begin to grow rapidly. Rosettes of leaves and rudiments of roots are formed on them, which must be pressed to the ground. As soon as 2-3 leaves grow on young bushes, you can dig out and transplant seedlings to a new bed.

You can propagate strawberries from seeds. They are sown in January - February and be sure to use backlight and film. Strawberries rise unevenly: from 2 to 4 weeks. The film is removed from the bowl and placed in a cool, bright place. You need to water the seedlings with a teaspoon or pipette, trying not to damage the thin shoots.

It is advisable to harvest seedlings immediately before planting. The roots are shortened to 6 - 8 cm, lowered into an earthen mash. Seedlings prepared in this way are immediately planted or removed in a dark, damp place for short-term storage.

Important! Bushes are planted in even rows 20-30 cm apart. Between rows leave 70 - 80 cm.

Another method of planting is considered more productive: plants are planted in groups of 3 at a distance of 10 cm. Such nests are placed in rows 50 cm apart.

The aisles are loosened and sprinkled with any mulching material. So that the seedlings do not begin to wither, you need to shade them.

Bushes need watering and regular feeding. When flowering, you need to make sure that the plantings do not freeze and do not overheat. If the whiskers are not needed for reproduction, they are cut off, otherwise the forces of the seedlings will be directed not to fruiting, but to the growth of shoots. In addition, the beds need to be weeded and pests controlled.

In areas with an unfavorable climate, care should be taken to protect seedlings from frost in winter and from heat in summer. In autumn, berries are covered with leaves, straw or dry tops.

The yield of strawberries drops sharply after 4-5 years. In advance, you need to plant seedlings in new beds, and dig up the freed ones and use them for growing vegetables.

Why do pruning? If you cut off the above ground part of the plants after harvesting, new leaves will grow. Bushes rejuvenate, freshen and bear fruit in one place much longer.

pruning strawberries

Varieties of strawberries

When choosing the right variety for a summer residence, they look at many signs: ripening time, size and shape of berries, resistance to diseases and temperature changes.

In terms of ripening, garden strawberries are divided into remontant, late, mid-season and early.

Of the early ripening varieties, the following varieties are very popular:

• Elvira is a variety of Dutch selection with shiny round berries weighing up to 60 g. The red pulp is sweet and fragrant. Resistant to fungal diseases.
• Kent is a Canadian variety with round-conical berries. Resistant to frost, gray mold, powdery mildew, fungal diseases. At the beginning of autumn it blooms and bears fruit for the second time.

Popular mid-season varieties:

Late maturing varieties:

• Vima Xima is a Dutch new variety with large dark red berries. Lets out a little mustache, which makes it easier to care for.
• Vikoda is a Dutch variety, resistant to spotting, white mold, winter-hardy. Delicious comb-shaped berries of dark red color reach 120 g.
• Borovitskaya is a self-fertile, high-yielding variety. Berries with a groove in the middle are double. Resistant to temperature extremes and disease.

Varieties of a neutral day or remontant:

• Queen Elizabeth II is one of the best remontant varieties with fragrant large berries that can bloom throughout the summer.
• Garland is a continuously flowering and fruit-bearing domestic variety with delicious fragrant berries. Suitable for growing in a pot or on a vertical trellis.

In 2018, new varieties of strawberries appeared: Alba, Christina, Honey, Clery, Kimberly.

Wild strawberry

Wild strawberries are found in the European part of Russia, in Eastern and Western Siberia, in the Urals, in the Caucasus. Grows on hills, sunny slopes, clearings, spreads rapidly with the help of creeping shoots.

Wild strawberry

Due to its medicinal properties and taste, strawberries are very popular. Russian scientist S.M. Vasiliev in the book "Treatment with Strawberries" described the beneficial properties and effects of drugs on all human organs and systems. Dried leaves and berries of wild strawberries can be bought at a pharmacy, or you can prepare at home.

• The berry is recommended for impaired metabolism, beriberi, obesity, and bronchial asthma.
• Decoctions and infusions from the leaves help with heart problems, suffocation, uterine bleeding, stomach ulcers and gastritis.
• Strawberry juice is effective for eczema, anemia, for wound healing.

Important! For treatment, you can not use the leaves of garden strawberries. They can be poisonous!

Frequently asked questions about strawberries

How to save strawberry seedlings until spring

If for some reason they did not manage to plant the strawberries in a permanent place, you can place the seedlings in boxes with holes in the bottom and take them to the basement or put them in the refrigerator. Line the bottom of each box with moss, sawdust, so as not to dry out the roots. Humidity should be at least 90% and temperature 2-6°C. If the temperature is higher, then the seedlings will begin to germinate, and if it is less, then they will freeze. The room needs to be ventilated or sprayed with seedling boxes.

strawberry seedling

How to store strawberries after picking

You need to pick the berry in dry weather. When harvesting, strawberries are plucked along with the stalks and carefully placed in a bowl. Make sure that the berries are undamaged, otherwise the disease will spread quickly and ruin the entire crop.

Fresh berries can be kept in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days. Do not wash the berries, do not cut off the stalks. The lid must not be tight. If the berries are washed and cut off, then they can be lightly sprinkled with sugar and left for 1-2 days.

Why garden strawberries do not bloom

With excessive application of nitrogen-containing fertilizers or manure, plants begin to intensively increase their green mass. Peduncles are not laid. Another reason is untimely or incorrect pruning of bushes, when flower buds do not have time to form or die during frosts. Flower buds can be damaged by the weevil. This phenomenon is best prevented by pre-treatment with pesticides.

Everyone is waiting for the onset of summer in anticipation of fragrant strawberries, which are among the first to appear in gardens and delight with their sweet taste. Ripe berries enchant with their red dress, and the delicate aroma makes the appetite break out in earnest.

In many ways, for the amazing smell and rich taste, most people love strawberry jam so much. The delicacy will plunge into the summer in the winter period of time and will give not only a good mood, but also a great storehouse of vitamins. It is worth thinking about how to make strawberry jam, recipes with photos step by step can be found on the links describing the cooking process.

How to make strawberry jam?

How to cook delicious strawberry jam is not an easy question. When preparing jam according to the classic recipe, you must follow a few steps, including:

• preparation of berries;
• preparation of dishes;
• cooking process.

The recipe for strawberry jam with a photo will tell you step by step how to make a dessert and what you should pay attention to.

How to prepare berries?

Strawberries need to be poured onto the table and sorted. For jam, you can use small fruits, then you get a dessert that is homogeneous in consistency. In order to have whole berries in the delicacy, it is better to use medium-sized fruits, as they will retain their shape. Unripe, rotten and overripe berries must be removed, leaves should be removed from the remaining strawberries. Now the prepared fruits can be washed.

There is a misconception that it is enough to wipe the fruit with a damp towel. Under no circumstances should this be done. Firstly, this way you can crush the berry, and, secondly, the dirt from the strawberries will not be completely removed. It is also not recommended to wash the fruits under running water; it is correct to do this in a basin in cool water. The washed berries are carefully taken out in handfuls and laid out on a towel. It is better to dry the fruits, this process can take up to five hours.

How to prepare dishes?

Before preparing strawberry jam, it is necessary to sterilize the jars in which the delicacy will be stored. To do this, they are washed with warm water and soda or laundry soap, turned upside down and calcined in an oven brought to 150 degrees. It is necessary to ignite gradually, starting from 100 degrees and bringing it to the extreme mark. The maximum temperature is 160 degrees. In this thermal mode, the jars should stand for 15 minutes, three-liter - 25 minutes. Lids, as well as dishes that will be used in cooking (ladle, funnel and wooden spatula), must be boiled for 5 minutes.

How to cook classic strawberry jam?

For strawberry jam, the proportions are equal, that is, a kilogram of sugar is required per kilogram of fruit. Strawberries must be covered with sugar and left for 5-6 hours. This time is enough for the fruits to release juice. Put the saucepan with berries over medium heat and bring to a boil. Many are concerned about the question of how much to cook strawberry jam after boiling in time. It's simple: you need to cook future jam no more than 5 minutes from the moment of boiling. It is important to constantly remove the foam that forms on top.

After 5 minutes, remove the pan from the heat and cover with a clean cloth. Now the dessert needs to cool to room temperature, which will take several hours. After complete cooling, the jam is again put on fire and allowed to boil for another 5 minutes. Again, remove the foam.

The above procedure is repeated for the third time, but the jam should be cooled for no more than an hour, after which it is packed in jars and rolled up. Hence the question of how to close strawberry jam, hot or cold, disappears by itself, since it is still hot before rolling. No need to fill the jam to the very top, leave a couple of centimeters from the top, so it will be better preserved.

How to cook strawberry jam for the winter?

To make strawberry jam for the winter, recipes with photos will help you do everything right, you will need to slightly change the above recipe. This requires additional ingredients in the form of a tablespoon of 9% vinegar or citric acid and a pinch of salt. Vinegar and citric acid are natural preservatives that help preserve food for a long time, inhibit the formation of mold and slow down the fermentation process.

The cooking process itself will also change. So, how to cook strawberry jam for the winter? We leave the proportions the same. After the berries are soaked in syrup, they must be gradually brought to a rapid boil and left until tender, adding vinegar and salt last. After that, the jam is poured into jars, leaving a centimeter from the top, and rolled up with lids. Now you need to sterilize the jars again for 10 minutes and wait for the winter to taste. For a complete understanding, you can follow the link about strawberry jam (a recipe with a photo for the winter).

How to cook strawberry jam so that vitamins remain?

Many people are concerned about how to make strawberry jam at home so that it is rich in useful vitamins and minerals. Strawberry jam is valued for a large amount of vitamins, but in order for them to be preserved, it is necessary to subject the dessert to heat treatment as little as possible. For this reason, "five minutes" is considered the most useful option. So, how to make strawberry jam at home?

It is necessary to take no more than two kilograms of berries and one and a half times more sugar. A kilogram of sugar will require a glass of water. The syrup is boiled in a saucepan over high heat, strawberries are added and allowed to boil for 5 minutes. All this time, you should gently stir the future jam. After 5 minutes, the pan is removed, the contents are allowed to cool, the dessert is poured into jars and the neck is closed with paper or nylon lids.

How to cook strawberry jam in the microwave?

With the development of technology, the process of preparing familiar products has also changed. This also applies to strawberry jam. Using the microwave oven, you can make a thick treat with a slight sourness, while saving sugar and wasting less time. For a kilogram of berries, you need 400 grams of sugar and a pinch of citric acid.

The washed berries are placed in a glass container for the microwave, covered with sugar and left for 3 hours so that the fruits release the juice. During this time, you need to periodically shake the cup so that the sugar dissolves better. At the same time, jars are sterilized using a microwave. 2 tablespoons of water are poured into two half-liter jars, the container is placed in the microwave and heated at a power of 800 W for 6 minutes. After three hours, the strawberries are cooked in the microwave for 8 minutes at full power of 800 watts. After citric acid is added, everything is gently mixed and again sent to the oven for 8 minutes. Hot jam is placed in jars and again sent to the microwave for 5 minutes. After that, the jam is ready, it remains only to roll up the jars.

How to cook strawberry jam so that it is not liquid?

To prevent strawberry jam from being liquid, you should follow recipes with equal proportions. Another secret is vinegar or citric acid. Both ingredients help the treat thicken and also keep it for a long period of time, up to three years.

In addition, the density of strawberry jam depends on the number of cooking cycles. Most recipes are limited to 1-3 cycles, but to add density, you can go through 5 or more cycles, however, there will be fewer useful substances with each heat treatment.

How to understand that strawberry jam is ready?

Experienced cooks know how to determine by eye when strawberry jam is ready. For beginners, the following tips are suitable. First, before cooking, you should remove a few plates in the freezer. If you drop a spoonful of jam on an ice surface, and after a couple of minutes it will be covered with a film, then the jam is ready.

You can also put a drop of jam on the thumbnail. If the drop curls up and does not flow, then the delicacy can be packed in jars.

Why does strawberry jam darken or runny?

The most delicious strawberry jam - a viscous consistency with a pronounced taste and dense berries. But sometimes it happens that the cooked product begins to darken, and this only means one thing - the jam is not ready yet, it has not been boiled enough. For the same reason, jam can be liquid - the syrup does not thicken enough, which makes the dessert watery.

Why is strawberry jam bitter?

Depending on the selected strawberries, the jam may have a pronounced bitterness. It is given by the seeds of the berry. To make the bitterness less pronounced, you can choose a strawberry jam recipe with a higher concentration of sugar.

All about the properties of strawberry jam for humans

Strawberry jam is a delicious delicacy, but often what tastes good is not the most useful product. Is this the case with strawberry dessert? Healthy strawberry jam or not?

What are the benefits of strawberry jam?

Strawberry jam strengthens the immune system, so it just needs to be included in the diet in the winter-spring period. By adding one or two teaspoons to tea, you can protect yourself from flu and colds. This type of delicacy increases the iodine content in the blood, activates brain activity, and also has a positive effect on the nervous system.

Strawberry jam is an excellent remedy for insomnia. If you eat a couple of tablespoons of goodies after dinner, healthy sleep is simply guaranteed. In addition, strawberry jam is recommended for anemia and atherosclerosis.

Is there any harm from strawberry jam?

Jams, as such, including strawberry, are not allowed for diabetes and obesity. A large amount of strawberry jam has a devastating effect on tooth enamel. In addition, strawberries are among the allergens, therefore, taking more than 200 grams of jam per day, you can provoke the body's reaction to the product.

Is it possible to have strawberry jam on a diet?

Due to the abundance of sugar, strawberry jam has a high calorie content, therefore, if you want to lose weight, it is not recommended to include it in your diet. For information in strawberry jam, the calorie content per 100 grams is 285 kcal. For those who are wondering how many calories in strawberry jam in a teaspoon - 19.95 kcal.

Is it possible to have strawberry jam with diarrhea?

Is it possible to have strawberry jam with gastritis?

With gastritis, doctors impose strict restrictions on sweets, so eating strawberry jam is not recommended. In addition to the abundance of sugar, it contains a lot of vitamin C, which will significantly delay recovery.

Secrets of storing strawberry jam

Strawberry jam, when properly stored, can remain usable for up to three years, but it is important to follow a lot of rules both in the preparation process and in preserving the product.

How to store strawberry jam?

If you need to keep strawberry jam for a long time, a recipe for the winter is best. Store jars in a cool place with low humidity. The temperature should be between 10 and 15 degrees. In this case, it is strongly not recommended to expose the jam to temperature changes.

The room must be dry so that excess moisture does not contribute to the formation of rust on the covers. Deformed lids will allow air to pass through, causing the jam to deteriorate.

Is strawberry jam spoiled?

The main signs of spoiled jam are an unpleasant smell when opening the jar, the presence of bubbles indicating the fermentation process, and mold. As a rule, such jam is no longer suitable for consumption. You can try to boil it again with sugar, but in a neglected case, the unpleasant taste will persist. This jam is no longer to be eaten.

What to do if strawberry jam ferments?

If strawberry jam has fermented, it does not mean at all that it should be thrown away immediately. Of course, it is unlikely that you will make a delicious filling from this type of jam, but it is perfect for baking. If the jam has just begun to ferment, you can boil it again with sugar for 7-10 minutes, half a kilogram of sugar is needed per liter of jam.

Can strawberry jam be covered with paper?

How to cook strawberry jam for the winter is already known, but many are concerned about the question of whether it will be preserved if the jar is closed with paper. Yes, it will be preserved, but even here it is important to properly pack the finished product. For this, the jar is covered with parchment paper, cardboard is laid on top, and once again it is necessary to cover with a layer of parchment. After that, you need to tightly tighten the paper at the neck with twine. To exclude the possibility of air entering, it is recommended to pre-moisten the twine in warm water and wrap the neck around it. After drying, the matter will shrink, which is why air cannot get inside. True, you need to store such jars in a dry place so that the paper cannot get wet or moistened.

Is it possible not to roll strawberry jam?

The recipe for strawberry jam allows the use of parchment paper as lids. Otherwise, if the jam is not rolled up, the shelf life of the dessert will be significantly reduced, while keeping it in the refrigerator and with the lid closed.

Why is strawberry jam moldy?

Mold in strawberry jam forms when air enters the can. This may be due to the fact that the storage rules are not followed correctly or the cooking process is violated. It is not uncommon for jars to be dropped or hit, causing deformation of the lid. Sometimes at first glance it is not clear that the lid allows air to pass through, but when you open the jar, you will no longer be able to eat such jam.

Strawberry jam and special conditions: pregnancy, lactation, small children

Strawberry jam is a delicious delicacy, but it belongs to the group of allergens, so you should think about whether it is possible under certain conditions and in what quantity.

Is it possible to have strawberry jam during pregnancy?

Strawberry jam is allowed during pregnancy if the mother has not previously had an allergic reaction to the fruit. The sweet product contains substances that are useful for fetal hypoxia, lack of vitamins. It also reduces the risk of bleeding and fights problems such as hemorrhoids. True, if a pregnant woman suffers from indigestion or has problems with the gastrointestinal tract, it is worth temporarily refraining from strawberry jam. In addition, you should not eat a lot of goodies at once, as this can provoke an allergy in the unborn baby.

Is it possible to have strawberry jam while breastfeeding?

Usually, young mothers wonder if strawberry jam is possible for a nursing mother in the first month. There are two opinions. Some experts rely in their judgments on the fact that strawberries are a strong allergen, therefore, in the first days after childbirth, while the baby is in the adaptation stage, you should not overload it with strong foods. This may cause allergies. The second group of pediatricians tend to argue that a small child should be gradually prepared for a varied diet, so the mother should try different foods during breastfeeding, including those that cause allergies.

It is best to introduce jam in small portions 1-2 months after the birth of the baby, for example, a spoon a day, then wait a couple of days and follow the baby's reaction. If the allergy does not manifest itself, then the mother can safely enjoy strawberry jam, but in moderation and, preferably, at intervals of a couple of days.

At what age can you give your child strawberry jam?

Strawberries often cause an allergic reaction, so fragrant fruit jam is not recommended to be introduced into the diet of a child under one year old. Many pediatricians, due to the abundance of sugar, prohibit the use of jam for up to 3 years. Some doctors tend to reduce the restrictive period, but only up to 7 months. At an early age, you can give a small spoonful of jam to try in the morning and monitor the child's well-being. In no case should strawberry jam be introduced as the main complementary food, as this will cause an undesirable reaction.