Strawberry Jam without Pectin Recipe

Nothing beats homemade jam made with fresh berries!  This strawberry jam without pectin only uses three ingredients.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe!

I have made homemade strawberry jam for years.  In the past, I have always made freezer jam using the powdered pectin you can buy at the store. Last year when I was in France attending The Academy France we did a fun photo shoot making jam.  We made a cooked strawberry jam that only uses fresh berries, sugar and lemon juice, without added pectin.  The jam is cooked on the stove top and then can be canned or frozen. It was delicious and I loved that I didn’t have purchase and add in additional pectin.

Ingredients Needed

• Strawberries
• Sugar. Granulated sugar
• Lemon. The lemon juice creates an acidic environment and helps to activate the natural pectin in the strawberries.

How to Make Homemade Strawberry Jam

• Wash, hull and dice your strawberries into small pieces.

• Measure fruit by weight, for this recipe we are using 2 pounds of strawberries, diced.  You will need 4 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of lemon juice.  Use a 1:2 ratio of fruit to sugar. For every pound of fruit, use 2 cups of sugar.

• Combine your strawberries, sugar and lemon juice into a heavy bottomed, large pot.  Since we were in France, we used an old confiture pan which is a French jam making pan.  I found one at a flea market and brought one home with me but any heavy bottomed pan will work!
• Stir! The hardest part of making homemade jam is stirring.  Making jam without pectin takes longer than freezer jam because the jam has to cook and thicken. 

• Bring the berry mixture to a boil and then stir the for about 30 minutes at a low boil.

• The jam will darken and thicken as it cooks.

How Do I Know When My Jam is Done?

Here’s the trick!  Coat the back of a spoon with jam and run your finger through the middle of it. If the jam stays separated, it’s done.