How to Make Homemade Fig-Strawberry Jam - Easily!
Making and canning your own jam is also quite easy. Here's how to do it, in 10 easy steps and
completely illustrated. The fig and strawberry combination is a perfect match:
the sweetness of figs coupled with the tartness and aromatic flavor of
strawberries is ideal, allowing you to use much less sugar or even go sugarless!
This recipe is all-natural, using fresh or frozen strawberries an figs. Every
other fig-strawberry recipe I've seen calls for strawberry Jell-o instead of
real strawberries! Gross!
I've got some other pages for specific types of jam, too: See this page for Fig Jam, this page for Blueberry Jam directions and this page for how to make apricot, peach, plum or nectarine jam.
For more information about figs and strawberries, see Fig Picking Tips, Strawberry Picking Tips and Miscellaneous strawberry facts. Also, see this page for directions about how to can figs and this page for strawberry and other berry jams!
For easy applesauce or apple butter directions, click on these links.
Ingredients and Equipment
|
Optional stuff:
|
Jam-making Directions
Step 1 - Pick the figs and berries! (or buy them already
picked)
It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality ones!
At right is a picture I took of Brown Turkey figs - they are plentiful in late August throughout the South. Other types of figs are fine, too. Strawberries are usually in season in May or June in most areas, so you may want to pick and freeze your strawberries (without sugar) and make this jam when the figs come in season. See this page on freezing strawberries.
I prefer to grow my own; which is really easy, especially for figs, strawberries can more challenging - but growing anything does take some space and time. That's why we have pick-your-own farms!
As mentioned
above; you may use frozen berries (those without syrup or added sugar);
which is especially useful if you want to make some jam in December to give
away at Christmas!
Above and at left are strawberries that I picked at a pick-your-own farm. If you want to pick your own, here is a list and links to the pick your own farms.
How much fruit?
Jam can ONLY be made in rather small batches - about 6 cups of prepared fruit at a time - like the directions on the pectin say, DO NOT increase the recipes or the jam won't "set" (jell, thicken). (WHY? Alton Brown on the Food Channel says pectin can overcook easily and lose its thickening properties. It is easier and faster to get an even heat distribution in smaller batches. . It takes about 4 cups of raw, unprepared berries and 4 cups of figs per batch.
Step 2 - Wash the jars and lids
Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later.
The dishwasher is fine for the jars, the water bath processing will
sterilize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher,
you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then
sterilize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot
water until they are used.
NOTE: If unsterilized jars are used, the product should be processed for 5 more minutes. However, since this additional processing can result in a poor set (runny jam), it’s better to sterilized the jars.
Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water (that's what the manufacturer's recommend) for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out. Leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot jam.
Step 3 -Wash and hull the strawberries!
I'm sure you can figure out how to wash the fruit in plain
cold water.
With strawberries you must remove the hulls (green parts), and the slice the berries into halves (for small berries) quarters for large berries. .
Step 4 - Peel and chop the figs
You need to cut off the stems and the bottom of the
fig, but you do not need to peel them - you CAN peel them if you want
to. I only peel the grody* looking ones (example photo below) or
those with thick skins.
(* knarly, gross, yucky)
At left, sample figs with unappealing peels (skins). If the skin looks fine, I chop it up, but if the skins are tough, think or unappealing like these...
I peel ----->
At
left is a sample slice of a perfectly ripe but not over-ripe fig. It
depends on the variety, but generally, they should be pink/yellowish and not
brown inside....
Some recipes call for the figs to sit in boiling water for 5 to 15 minutes
to "check o
r tenderize the skins. Since the skins have no flavor, I'd
rather remove them if they are thick or tough... otherwise, just chop them
up along with the rest of the fig.
You'll need
3 cups. You can chop them
up more, if you like, but I find they soften and break up during cooking, an
d
if I want smaller pieces, I
just use a sharp-edged plastic potato masher (shown at right) to mush them
while cooking)
You should now have 3 cups of sliced strawberries and 3 cups of chopped figs!
Step 5 - Measure out the sugar
If
you are using low or no-sugar pectin, you should only need 2 and 1/4 cups of
sugar. With regular
pectin, about 4 cups of sugar. Mix the dry pectin with about 1/4 cup
of sugar and keep this separate from the rest of the sugar. This helps to
keep the pectin from clumping up and allows it to mix better!
If you would rather try to make jam with no added sugar, just substitute 1 cup of white grape or peach juice for the sugar. You could also use 1 cup of Splenda instead of the sugar!
Step 6 - Mix the berries with the pectin and cook to a full boil
Stir the pectin into the berries and put the mix in
a big pot on the stove over medium to high heat (stir often enough to
prevent burning). It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to get it to
a full boil (the kind that can not be stirred away).
Why use pectin? You may run into grandmotherly types who sniff "I never used pectin!" at you. Well, sure, and their generation took a horse and buggy to work, died of smallpox and ate canned meat and green beans that tastes like wet newspapers. Old fashioned ways are not always better nor healthier. Pectin, which occurs naturally in fruit, is what makes the jam "set" or thicken. The pectin you buy is just natural apple pectin, more concentrated. Using pectin dramatically reduces the cooking time, which helps to preserve the vitamins and flavor of the fruit, and uses much less added sugar. But, hey, if you want to stand there and stir for hours, cooking the flavor away, who am I to stop you! :) We can probably find an old foot-pedal operated drill for the dentist to use when he fixes the cavities in your teeth from the extra sugar you'll need to add, too...
Notes about pectin: I usually add about 20% more pectin (just open another pack and add a little) or else the jam is runnier than I like. With a little practice, you'll find out exactly how much pectin to get the thickness you like.
Is your jam too runny? Pectin enables you to turn out
perfectly set jam every time. Made from natural apples, there are also
low-sugar pectins that allow you to reduce the sugar you add by almost
half!
Get it here at BETTER prices!
Step 7 - Get the lids sterilizing
If
you haven't done so already, put the lids into a pan of
hot water (barely simmering) for at least several minutes; to soften up the gummed surface
and clean the lids.
Need lids, rings and replacement jars?
Get them all here, delivered direct to your home, at the best prices on the internet!
Step 8 - Add the remaining sugar and bring to a boil
When the berry-pectin mix has reached a full boil
(photo at left), add the rest of the sugar (about 2 cups of sugar per 6 cup batch of berries
- OR the 1 cup of fruit juice OR the 1 cup of Splenda) and then
Step 9 - retu
rn
to a full, hard boil for 1 minute
... bring it back to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute.
Remove from the heat.
Step 10 - Skim any excessive foam
Foam...
What is it? Just jam with a lot of air from the boiling. But it
tastes more like, well, foam, that jam, so most people remove it. It is
harmles
s,
though. Some people add 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine to the mix in
step 6 to reduce foaming, but food experts debate whether that may contribute to
earlier spoilage, so I usually omit it and skim.
But save the skimmed foam! You can recover jam from it to use fresh! See this page for directions!
Step 11 - Testing for "jell" (thickness)
I keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a
glass of ice water, then take a half spoonful of the mix and let it cool
to room temperature on the spoon. If it thickens up to the
consistency I like, then I know the jam is ready. If not, I mix in a
little more pectin (about 1/4 to 1/2 of another package) and bring it to a
boil again for 1 minute.
Notes about "set" (thickening or jell): It takes 3 ingredients for jams and jellies to set: pectin, sugar and acidity. The amount of pectin that is naturally occurring in the fruit varies from one type of fruit to another and by ripeness (counter intuitively, unripe contains more pectin). See this page for more about pectin in fruit. It takes the right balance, and sufficient amounts of each of pectin, sugar and acidity to result in a firm jam or jelly. Lastly, it takes a brief period (1 minute) of a hard boil, to provide enough heat to bring the three together. Generally speaking, if your jam doesn't firm up, you were short in pectin, sugar or acidity or didn't get a hard boil. That's ok - you can "remake' the jam; see this page!
Step 12 - Optional: Let stand for 5 minutes and stir completely.
Why? Otherwise, the fruit will often float to the top of the jar. This isn't a particular problem; you can always stir the jars later when you open them; but some people get fussy about everything being "just so", so I've included this step! Skipping this step won't affect the quality of the jam at all. I usually don't bother.
You’ll also notice that the less sugar you use, the more the fruit will float (chemists will tell you it is due to the decreased density of the solution!)
Step 13 - Fill the jars and put the lid and
rings on
Fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the
top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Then put them into
the boiling water canner!
This is where the jar tongs come in really handy!
Step 12 - Process the jars in the boiling water bath
Keep the jars covered with at least 1 inch of water. Keep the water
boiling. In general, boil them for 10 minutes, which is what SureJell (the
makers of the pectin) recommend. I say "in general"
because you have to
process (boil) them longer at higher altitudes than sea
level, or if you use larger jars, or if you did not sterilize the jars and
lids right before using them. The directions inside every box of
pectin will tell you exactly. The directions on the pectin tend to be
pretty conservative. Clemson University says you only need to process
them for 5 minutes. I usually hedge my bets and start pulling them out
after 5 minutes, and the last jars were probably in for 10. I rarely
have a jar spoil, so it must work. But you don't want to process them too
long, or the jam will turn dark and get runny. See the chart
below for altitude adjustment to processing times, if you are not in the sea
level to 1,000ft above sea level range.
Note: Some people don't even boil the jars; they just ladle it hot into hot jars, put the lids and rings on and invert them, but putting the jars in the boiling water bath REALLY helps to reduce spoilage! To me, it makes little sense to put all the working into making the jam and then not to process the jars to be sure they don't spoil!
|
Recommended process time for jams in a boiling water canner. |
||||
| Process Time at Altitudes of | ||||
| Style of Pack | Jar Size | 0 - 1,000 ft | 1,001 - 6,000 ft | Above 6,000 ft |
| Hot | Half-pints or Pints |
5 min | 10 | 15 |
Step 13 - Remove and cool the jars - Done!
Lift the jars out of the water with your jar lifter tongs and let them cool without touching or
bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight) You can
then remove the rings if you like.
Once cooled, they're ready to store. I find they last up to 12 months. But after about 6 to 8 months, they get darker in color and start to get runny. They still are safe to eat, but the flavor and texture aren't as good. So eat them in the first 6 months after you prepare them! Another trick is to keep the uncooked berries or other fruit in the freezer and make and can the jam as needed, so it's always fresh.
Other Equipment:From left to right:
|
 You can get all of the tools in a kit here:  |
 |
Home Canning KitsFeatures:* All the tools you need for hot waterbath canning - in one comprehensive set! * Complete with 21 1/2 qt. enameled waterbath canner and "Ball Blue Book" of canning. * Also includes canning rack, funnel, jar lifter, jar wrencher, bubble freer, tongs and lid lifter. * A Kitchen Krafts exclusive collection. This is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother
used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce!. This complete kit includes everything you need and
lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs,
lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel,
labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars and lids (and the jars are reusable). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here! Average Customer Review:
|
|
|
Canning booksCanning & Preserving for Dummies
|
||||||
|
|
The Ball Blue Book of PreservingThis is THE book on canning! My grandmother used this book when I was a child. It tells you in simple instructions how to can almost anything; complete with recipes for jam, jellies, pickles, sauces, canning vegetables, meats, etc. If it can be canned, this book likely tells you how! Click on the link below for more information and / or to buy (no obligation to buy) Price $8.95 |
Summary - Typical Cost of Making Homemade Jam - makes 8 jars, 8 oz each** |
||||
| Item | Quantity | Cost in 2006 | Source | Subtotal |
| Berries (strawberries) | 1 gallon | $8.00/gallon | Pick your own | $8.00 |
| Canning jars (8 oz size), includes lids and rings | 18 jars | $7.00/dozen | WalMart, BigLots, Publix, Kroger |
$10.00 |
| Sugar | 4 cups | $2.00 | WalMart, BigLots, Publix, Kroger |
$2.00 |
| Pectin (low sugar, dry) | 1 and a third boxes * | $2.00 per box | WalMart, BigLots, Publix, Kroger |
$2.70 |
| Total | $22.70 total or about $1.25 per jar |
|||
| * pectin use varies - blackberry
jam needs very little, raspberry a little more, strawberry the most.
** - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars and reduce the cost further; just buy new lids (the rings are reusable, but the flat lids are not)! |
||||
Can't find the equipment? We ship to all 50 states!
Use our Feedback form!
FAQs - Answers to Common Questions
|
