This strawberry freezer jam is super easy to make, incredibly sweet and tastes like no other strawberry jelly or jam! The strawberries aren't cooked, so they taste amazing and fresh. This jam is a bit of a southern tradition - nearly every family has a recipe that tastes just like it. :D My grandmother made a jam that tasted just like this, too, but she did it with traditional canning methods.

My boyfriend always tells me how his grandmother made the best strawberry freezer jam in the world. He recently asked his mom for the recipe and that led us to go out and buy some Sure-Jell. He's been asking to make it for quite a while now, and we finally got some nice strawberries today! HOORAY!

This is basically the recipe for Sure-Jell's strawberry freezer jam, but I've modified the amounts so you can make it with just a pint of strawberries. A pint of strawberries will make enough to fill one quart mason jar or two pint jars.

This strawberry freezer jam will last three weeks in the fridge and up to a year in the freezer.

Step 1: What You'll Need:

1 pint of strawberries
2 cups of sugar
3 oz water
2 tablespoons of sure-jell pectin
a clean canning jars to put it in
potato masher or big fork

Note that this jam sets up better in smaller canning jars - I used a quart sized jar because that's what I had, but next time I'm going to do in with two pint jars. :)

If you've got two pints of strawberries, you can use a full pouch of sure-jell and 6 oz of water. I think next time I'm going to need to use two pints of strawberries and the full pouch - Tyler's already eaten over half of the jar of jam, and it's been maybe a week and a half. :P

Step 2: Clean and Mash the Berries

Cut off the tops of the berries, slice them in half and put them into a large bowl. Once all your berries are in the bowl, mash them with a potato masher. You can also mash them with your hands. :D

(Sure, you can use a food processor for this part, but then you have more dirty dishes and the jam loses a lot of texture.)

Once the berries are mashed, add in your sugar. If you've used two pints of strawberries, it's four cups - one pint of strawberries is two cups of sugar.

Mix in the sugar and let the strawberries and sugar sit for at least ten minutes.

Step 3:

Combine the pectin and water (for two pints of strawberries, 6 oz water, full pouch of pectin - for one pint, 3 oz water, two tablespoons of pectin) in a small saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking the whole time to get rid of lumps. Keep it at a boil for one minute - whisk like crazy! Once the minute is up, take it off the heat.

It will be cloudy but not grainy. :)

Step 4: Combine the Pectin & Berries

If your berry and sugar mixture has been sitting for ten minutes, pour in the pectin and mix well! You don't want any sugar crystals hanging out - everything needs to be dissolved. This will take a couple minutes of mixing.

The consistency should be like a light gel - it will cling to a spoon easily. :)

Step 5: The Final Stretch!

Pour the jam into clean canning jars.

Cover and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours to set up. Don't mix it during this time - you might end up with lots of berry pulp sitting on the top, and this is okay. Once it's set, you can stir it around. :)

And remember - smaller jars = better results!

Step 6: Enjoy!

We keep ours in the freezer and take it out whenever we make toast. It turns a lovely light pink color in the freezer and then defrosts as you put it on warm toast! Keeping it in the freezer keeps it thicker too.

You can keep it in the fridge, too. It just might be a little more runny - it's definitely not like jelly. :)