Honey Sweetened Strawberry Freezer Jam

Did you realize that a typical strawberry jam recipe calls for 4 cups of fruit and up to 8 CUPS OF SUGAR! !!!

What!?

That is not okay with me.

I much prefer our honey sweetened strawberry freezer jam. It calls for just 1 cup of honey per 4 cups of fruit. (That’s a savings of up to 7 cups of sugar!!!)

It’s pleasantly sweet rather than syrupy sweet.

Also, it’s super simple to make.

Here’s a quick tutorial of how we make jam at our house.

Step #1 – Gather Jars (or other storage containers)

I choose to use freezer-safe glass jars to store my jam in the freezer, but I do use extra caution. If you’d rather, feel free to use a non-glass storage container for your jam.

One batch of this recipe will fill approximately:

3.5 pint jars (16 oz)

– or –

7 half-pint jars (8 oz)

– or –

14 jelly jars (4 oz)

Once each jar is removed from the freezer, it will stay fresh in the fridge for only 1-2 weeks. For this reason, it’s important to choose a jar size that you will be able to use up within that amount of time. I use bigger pint jars because as a family of 6 we go through a jar of jam quite quickly.

Step #2 – Prepare Calcium Water

In order to make this low-sugar recipe, you will need a box of Pomona’s Pectin. This brand of pectin is sugar-free, preservative-free, and can be used to make low-sugar jams. You can find it at any natural food grocery or online here. Each box contains enough pectin for two batches of jam.

Inside the box you’ll find a bag of pectin and a bag of calcium (this is the secret ingredient that will make your jam jell without lots of sugar!) Simply pour 1/2 teaspoon of the calcium powder into 1/2 cup of water, shake well, and set aside for now.

Step #3 – Prepare Fruit

You can make this jam using fresh or frozen berries. Someday I hope to grow more strawberries for our family than I do for the birds, but until then.. frozen it is! Just make sure the berries are fully-thawed first.

Then, either mash them up or give them a quick spin in the blender, making sure that you have 4 cups mashed fruit total.

If you happen to prefer chunks of berries in your jam, you’d be better off mashing by hand and stirring the ingredients together from here on out.

However, I don’t mind smooth jam, and find that using the blender for this entire process gives me a better result.

* One downside to this is that I can only fit one batch of jam in my blender at a time. So you’ll just have to proceed as you see fit.

After blending the berries, I check the measurement on the side of the blender to make sure I have 4 cups total… adding a few more berries or spooning some out if necessary.

Then add the 1/8 cup lemon juice and 1 cup honey to the blender.

Blend until fully-incorporated.

Pour out the fruit mixture into a large bowl, and set aside.

Step #4 Prepare Pectin

Bring 3/4 cup water to a boil and put it into the empty blender.

Add 3 teaspoons of pectin powder to the boiling water and blend until the powder is completely dissolved.

Step #5 Combine Fruit Mixture and Pectin

Add the fruit mixture back to the pectin in the blender and blend until combined.

Add the calcium water and blend again until combined. (The directions suggest adding 4 t calcium water, then one teaspoon at a time until the jam begins to jell, but I find I end up adding several more teaspoons this way and it’s rather tedious. For this reason, I just add the full 1/2 cup of calcium water to the blender every time.)

Step #6 – Pour Jam into Jars

Make sure to leave AT LEAST 1/2 inch space at the top of each jar! – ESPECIALLY if you are using glass jars!

Step # 8 – Freeze and Enjoy!

I usually stick one jar straight into the fridge to be eaten within the next week.

The others, I store safely in the door of my freezer so that they can’t accidentally fall out on someone’s toe when opening the door or get jostled around and broken in the freezer.

Again – Remember, once each jar is removed from the freezer, it can be stored in the fridge for only 1-2 weeks before it will begin to mold. This may seem bothersome to you, but such is life without gobs of sugar and preservatives.