Strawberry Jam with honey

Strawberry Honey Jam Recipe – Just 4 Natural Ingredients With No Sugar Or Pectin!!!

Posted on February 22, 2013 by oldworldgarden in Recipes // 165 Comments

Canned Strawberry Honey Jam

I have had enough of Winter!  Snow continues to fall almost every day and my Spring Fever is in full go!  In order to get me through those February gloomy days in Ohio, I decided that this week I would dust off my water bath canner and put it into use.  Nothing makes it feel more like summer than hearing those jars “pop” as they cool on the counter top.

So, in my quest to break the winter blues, I decided to buy strawberries from the grocery store and begin my experiment for the perfect strawberry jam.  As most of you know, we are trying to make most of our food from natural ingredients.  We are trying to eliminate as much white flour and white sugar from our diet as we can.  If you have ever made homemade strawberry jam, you know that for about every 2 pints of strawberries, you need 7 cups (yes, 7 cups!) of sugar to make traditional jam.

Spreading the jam – it is a little thinner than traditional jam, but much better and healthier!

Although I love a PB&J sandwiches as much as the next person, I don’t like the fact that the sweetness of jam comes from that much sugar.

I have to say that for a first attempt to make an all natural jam – it’s become a huge hit in the house! It’s a touch thinner than traditional jam since pectin is the traditional thickening agent, but oh so good!

The best part is it’s simple to make and uses only 4 natural ingredients, using apples, which are high in pectin, to thicken the jam.  It is the perfect consistency for that PB&J sandwich or the perfect topping on that bowl of ice cream.   Whatever you choose to do with it – you can rest easy knowing that all the ingredients are natural and not full of white sugar!

Strawberry Honey Jam

Strawberries, Grated Apple, Lemon and Honey – 4 simple ingredients for All Natural Jam

INGREDIENTS:

6 lbs of fresh strawberries

3 3/4 cup raw honey

2 small granny smith apples

1 1/2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 of a large lemon)

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

As the ingredients boil, skim off the foam and discard.

1. Hull strawberries and cut in each strawberry in half (or quarters if large), place in a large stockpot

2. Cut the sides of the apples away from the core and grate the apple leaving the skins on.  (I used my food processor) Place in pot with the strawberries.

3. Juice a lemon until you get 1 1/2 tablespoons of juice and poor into the stock pot.

Pour into hot mason jars to begin the canning process.

4. Pour the honey into the pot and stir.

5. Heat mixture on high until boiling stirring occasionally.  As soon as the mixture begins to boil, reduce heat to medium low to simmer.

Water bath for 10 minutes, remove from heat and let cool overnight.

6. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes until the strawberries become soft.  Using a potato masher, mash the strawberries so there are no recognizable sections.  If you have an immersion blender, you can use this instead.

7. Simmer for another 15-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The longer the mixture simmers, the thicker the consistency.  (Remember, this will not be as thick as the consistency made with sugar and/or pectin).

8. Strawberry Honey Jam can either be placed in freezer safe jars, or canned using a water bath for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Mary and Jim

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales, July 10th, 2012

With the single exception of sin, anxiety is the greatest evil that can happen to a soul. Just as sedition and internal disorders bring total ruin to a nation and leave it unable to resist the enemy, so also if our heart is inwardly troubled and disturbed, it loses both the strength necessary to hold on to the virtues it has acquired and the means to resist the temptations of the enemy. We then use up our energies fishing in troubled waters, as they say. 


(INT. Part IV, Ch. 11; O. III, p. 311) 

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales, July 9th, 2012

The present life is given to us only to earn eternal life. If we forget this, we tend to concentrate all our affections on the things of this world, where we are but birds of passage. So it happens that when we have to leave this world we become frightened and upset. Believe me, if we want to live as happy pilgrims, we must always have in our hearts the hope of finally reaching that country where we will settle down forever. But at the same time we must believe, and believe with all our hearts (this is a most sacred truth!), that God keeps a loving eye on us as we walk toward Him, and never lets anything happen to us that is not for our greater good. 


(Letters 1502; O. XVIII, p. 343) 

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales, July 6th, 2012

I do not want you to be too worried about your prayer made without words, as you put it to me, because it is good if at the end it leaves you with noble affections in your heart. Therefore, follow the path along which the Holy Spirit is calling you, without neglecting to prepare yourself for meditation. It is necessary to give yourself a sufficient preparation which mirrors your attitude; when God lifts us up to lofty heights, to Him alone be the glory! 


(Letters 49; O. XIII, p. 334) 

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales, July 3rd, 2012

In this world we often undergo great hardships in order to find satisfaction and rest, but as a general rule our labor is in vain. However, those who have their intellect enlightened by supernatural light know full well that God alone can give them a true and perfect feeling of contentment. Hence they do not entrust their hearts or affections to creatures here below. In fact, if we give our hearts to other people, what will we get out of it? Our search will be useless. Since they are in the same human condition as ourselves, they cannot give us anything but an exchange of affection, loving us so that we will love them. God alone can love us fully, and, jealous of our love, does not want us to find any other object for our love and affections. 


(Sermons 46; O. X, pp. 43-44) 

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales, June 30th, 2012

When human prudence... gets involved in our desires, it is difficult to silence because it is persistent and, to our disadvantage, insinuates itself into all that we do. How, then, can we purify our intention? Let us see whether our desire can be considered just and holy. If it is, we should follow it, not just to obey human prudence but to carry out the will of God. 


(Letters 1871; O. XX, p. 222)

Every Day with Saint Francis de Sales, June 29th, 2012

In some passage of Sacred Scripture we read that the Holy Spirit offered a prayer. Surely this cannot mean that He prayed because, as God, He is equal to the Father and the Son. We must simply understand that He inspired men and women to pray. 


(Sermons 8; O. IX, p. 52)