Homemade Strawberry Jam

You guys, I MADE JAM! This was my first attempt and it turned out GREAT. The best part is that making your own jam is really easy!! Check it out:

Ingredients:

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 box SureJell (fruit pectin--found in the baking aisle near the Jello)
• 4 cups sugar

Directions:

1. Cut up your strawberries--I just sliced the tops off and then cut them in half. Put all the strawberry halves into a gallon-sized ziploc bag. Use a potato masher or a meat tenderizer tool or a rolling pin to smush and flatten the strawberries. Mash them as much or as little as you prefer. I prefer less chunks in my jam, so I smushed them pretty well. Place them into a bowl.
2. Stir 4 cups of sugar into the bowl of fruit. Mix well. Let stand for 10 minutes and stir occasionally.
3. In a small saucepan stir 1 box of pectin (SureJell) and 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
4. Stir pectin mixture into the fruit. Stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy (a few sugar crystals may remain). This took about 5 minutes of stirring for me.
5. Pour into washed containers leaving 1/2 inch space at the top for expansion if you are going to freeze your jam.
6. Let stand at room temp for 24 hours until set.
   

The great thing about this recipe is that 1 pint of strawberries will give you five 8-ounce containers of jam! That's a lotta jam, y'all. You can keep it refrigerated up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year.

This stuff was seriously so good. SO GOOD. I was apprehensive these past 24 hours, hoping that it would turn out and man-oh-man, I ate my bagel with the strawberry jam so fast. Try it out peeps.