Strawberry Jam (using No-name Pectin)

Total Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups crushed strawberries, about 2 quarts
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, prefer fresh
• 1 (1 3/4 ounce) box no-name dry pectin
• 1/2 teaspoon margarine
• 7 cups sugar, measured into bowl

Recipe

• 1 put waterbath canner on, and bring to a boil. wash, rinse and sterilize 8 jars, lids and rings. (i put my jars and rings in a 225 f oven and the lids in a small pot of water)
• 2 crush berries, one layer at a time. i did this in a 2 c measure using a potato masher and add it to a 4 c measure a bit at a time.
• 3 add fruit to large pot with lemon juice pectin and margarine. stir well and place over high heat, bring to hard boil.
• 4 add sugar all at once and bring to hard boil, one that can't be stirred down. boil hard 1 minute. remove from heat, stirring for 5 minutes to prevent floating fruit. quickly ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. put into canner, bring to boil and process 5 minutes.
• 5 notes: the pectin didn't have anything about processing but i do it now because one year i lost most of my cherry jam because the seals broke.
• 6 the original recipe didn't have the margarine but i added it because it helps reduce foaming. i stole the idea from certo.
• 7 the recipe says it makes 7 cups but i usually do up one extra jar just in case. but this time it only made 6 and a little.
• 8 if you don't want to process i see no reason why you can't just put in jars or containers and freeze.