{Not Quite} Susie Homemaker

Las Vegas Mommy Blogger, Foodie, Brand Ambassador & Product Reviewer

Strawberry Jam Recipe & Canning Tools Giveaway!

By 76 Comments

I received the Ball Canning FreshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker as well as an assortment of Ball Canning products to facilitate this review. All experiences are authentic & all opinions are my own.

We eat a lot of PB&J around here, and for awhile now I’ve been wanting to make my own jam or jelly to use. Not only do I like the idea of knowing exactly what’s in it, and having a fresher variety, but it just sounded like a lot of fun! Traditional jam-making methods though include a lot of heat & patience, and due to my severe lack of patience I tend to get burned when I’m around too much heat. So I hadn’t tried making my own- until I received the Ball FreshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker!

Ball Canning Pack

In addition to the Jam & Jelly Maker, Ball sent me a getting started kit for canning. They sent over some of their beautiful blue heritage mason jars, a Canning Discovery Kit meant to show even the most novice canner {i.e. me} all about canning, and a few other goodies like pectin, labels & the Ball Blue Book.

I didn’t waste any time & the first time I went to the store I picked up the ingredients to make my favorite- strawberry jam!

Homemade Strawberry Jam Recipe from Ball Canning

I’m still learning how to gracefully scoop the jam into the jars. It’s a work in progress.

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups crushed strawberries (about three 1-lb containers)
3 Tbsp Ball® RealFruit® Classic Pectin
1/2 tsp butter or margarine
3 1/3 cups granulated sugar

Directions:

  1. 1. Wash strawberries in cool, running water and drain. Remove stems and hulls. Crush berries one layer at a time using a potato masher. Measure required quantity of crushed berries and remaining ingredients for your recipe; set aside.
  2. 2. Sprinkle pectin evenly over bottom of the Pot fitted with the Stirrer. Add crushed strawberries evenly over pectin. Add butter/margarine to help reduce foaming.
  3. 3. Press jam button – the cook time will automatically default to 21 minutes. Press enter.
  4. 4. Wait 4 minutes for appliance to sound 4 short beeps indicating that it is time to add sugar. Add sugar gradually while Stirrer continues running. Place the Glass Lid on the Pot.
  5. 5. The appliance will continue to automatically stir your ingredients while it cooks. Stay within earshot of the Jam & Jelly Maker, the appliance will beep again at the end of the process signaling jam cooking is complete. Press cancel, unplug the appliance and immediately remove Glass Lid.
  6. 6. Remove Stirrer using a pot holder. Skim foam, if necessary, from top of jam.
  7. 7. Preserve jam immediately, using 1 of the 3 ways listed here.

Automatic FreshTECH Jam & Jelly Maker in action

My thoughts:

It was even more fun than I thought making my own jam! Shane got involved {not with the hot part}. He loved “helping me” cut up strawberries {stabbing them repeatedly with a kid knife- his may not have ended up in the jam} and helping me measure. The machine was so easy to use & the directions were easy to follow.

I love that you can easily customize your recipe- whether you start with a base recipe or start completely from scratch, you can personalize it to meet your tastes. You can choose to use sugar alternatives or more or less of particular ingredients, or even try flavor combinations! I get the feeling I’m going to have a lot of fun with this.

In honor of National Can-It-Forward Day, Ball hosted a live webcast sharing some tips for canning! You can view the entire webcast here or within the widget below:

Buy It: The FreshTECH Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker is available in stores & online now for the MSRP of $99. {Store locator} Other accessories are available at stores nationwide.

Win It: One lucky reader will win a Canning Discovery Kit & getting started items! Just enter using the simple form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

  7. Canning is something that I have said I want to do for many years, but just haven’t yet. You make it look so easy! I’ll have to give it a go and try your recipe.

    Reply

  9. I love both apricot and strawberry! This makes it sound so easy to do something that I have always wanted to try, but seems so daunting…

    Reply

  19. Thanks for the review and helpful information. I’ve been looking into this machine for the last few weeks and trying to decide if it’s right for me.

    Reply

  44. My absolute favorite is my aunt’s blackberry preserves. I have never made jam or jelly. I would love to make my some to give to my aunt. 🙂

    Reply

  47. I LOVE Blackberry jelly. Thanks for the great giveaway; I’d love to can my own!
    hstorm799{at}gmail{dot}com

    Reply

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