Strawberries Hoarding

[Malk]

I finally managed to get some strawberries this year by putting them under fleece as soon as they flowers began to fall off. I'd love to makes some jam, but know they won't all ripen in a oner.

Can I freeze them until I have enough to make jam or will this ruin the quality and taste?

[retropants]

Hello there Malk!

You can easily make jam from your frozen crop of strawberries, as, like you say, you can save them all up until you have a big enough quantity to go ahead. I have done this with raspberries and redcurrants too. (saving the redcurrants until I have something else to add too them, like blackberries) Also, try adding a little rhubarb to the strawberries when making the jam, it makes it a little bit different! Happy jamming!

retropants. x

[Malk]

Thanks, I've saved raspberries and currants, but noticed that strawberries go a bit mushy. Wasn't sure if it affected taste. Good idea about the rhubarb, need to use up some of my compote.

[Geoff]

I'll have to ask the wife when I go home but won't freezing strawberries make it even harder to get any sort of set in the jam? I think freezing reduces pectin.

[retropants]

You could be right Geoff, but I use jam sugar with added pectin, so that I have a reliable set on the majority of occasions! You can buy pectin to add if you wanted to use a particular brand of sugar though. Nothing like homemade jam really is there?

[Beccy]

You can also make a pectin syrup from high pectin fruit such as apples or usefully at this time of year gooseberries.

[John]

I also understood that freezing reduces pectin content of fruit and that when using frozen fruit for jam you should increase the fruit content by 10%. I've tried this with raspberries but strawberry jam is such a poor setter though that I wonder if this would work. Adding pectin and increasing acidity will help the setting but this doesn't do much for the flavour of the jam.

John

[richard p]

i freeze the strawberries till the bramley apples are fit then make strawberry and apple jam , normally a 50-50 or 75 -25 mix. strawberries for flavour, apples for setting and bulk.

[barathea]

I've just made Strooseberry Jam - half and half strawberries & gooseberries, equal weight of jam sugar to fruit. It's practically solid; I wouldn't worry too much about a set . . . And it tastes great.

[sally wright]

Dear All,
I find that adding the juice of half a lemon for every pound of straw's gives an excellent set and does not affect the flavour. I will also soak the straw's in the sugar overnight before jamming. This draws out the juices and allows the fruit pieces to survive the jam making process. (also good for apricots)
my recipie is as follows
2 lb straws, chopped so all pieces are equal.
1kg of sugar, the extra 2oz means less boiling so a better colour and flavour is obtained.
Juice of one lemon, if you use frozen straws add an extra half.
Knob of butter. This is added at the end of cooking to get rid of the scum and froth. Add a little at a time, stirring until it has disolved, if there is still some scum left add a little more.
Soak overnight by tipping the sugar over the straws and then boil as for any jam. If you want to have the fruit pieces evenly distributed through the jam leave bottling until the mixture is tepid. Don't forget to have jars ready and in the oven keeping warm.
Have fun folks.
Regards Sally ~Wright.

[Malk]

Lots of great ideas here. Roll on the strawberries, if I can stop eating them as they ripen I might have enough for jam.

[janveg]

Have you tried putting redcurrants with strawberries, this gives the jam a tang and helps to set also. I use about 1/2 the amount of redcurrants to the strawberries.

[Sylvia]

What about making ice cream. Whip up some whipping cream and stir in mushed up straws. You have to beat the stuff when it's half frozen and it needs some defrosting before you con scoop it but it will be beter than anything you can buy