Strawberry Lemon Jam Recipe with No Pectin Added

Welcome to The Storied Recipe Podcast, a podcast about food, culture, and love. 

This recipe for Strawberry Lemon Jam came from my podcast guest, Letitia Clark. Make sure you listen to her episode I Wanted To Encourage People while you make her Strawberry Lemon Jam Recipe with No Pectin Added!   

Letitia is the author of the visually stunning cookbook "Bitter Honey" - "A Compilation of Stories and Recipes from the Island of Sardinia". Of course, any of us would easily dream of life on this Italian island, where relaxing is a way of life, and eating is an art form. The appeal is obvious. Equally appealing is the idyllic county of Devon (United Kingdom) where Letitia was raised in an apple orchard. The words "Devon", "scones", "clotted cream" and "homemade strawberry lemon jam" will always be almost magical to me - until I visit Devon, I'll continue to wonder if it really exists or if it's only found in books. That's why I was delighted when Letitia shared this recipe that connects her to her grandmother, Devon, and now, to Sardinia as well.

P.S. Looking for something to put this delicious homemade strawberry jam on? Try out these Fluffy Soft Scones with Buttermilk, which are a super easy recipe but will make the best breakfast or afternoon snack. 

Letitia's Memories of Strawberry Lemon Jam

Strawberries to me will always taste of summers in England. That flavour, and that fragrance is so reminiscent of every summer of my life it feels so strange to smell it in April, in Sardinia. In Sardinia strawberries taste of spring. The heat of the Italian climate means that the strawberries ripen in mid-April. Sardinian summers taste instead of salt and fat and fish and watermelon; the scorched skin of a grilled squid, the fat of a barbecued sausage, the salty lick of an upper lip, the dusty white saline crust of skin after swimming. Summer in Sardinia tastes of sun cream and iced coffee and gelato and the cool, clean, chemical flavour of watermelon. Whenever and wherever you make it, strawberry jam is indisputably the most precious of all the jams. It has a floral delicacy and sweet intensity which are incomparable. This is the best strawberry jam recipe I have ever made, it allows the berries to maintain their integrity, not cooked so much so that they disintegrate or are muffled by the solid shout of sugar, instead entire and flavourful and suspended in a shining fragrant syrup, almost like candied strawberries. To counterbalance the sweetness of the strawberries, a lot of lemon is added, and the tiniest pinch of salt too. The butter is a trick from my cooking school days, which helps to dissolve the scum on the top of the jam, and (I think) adds a subtle edge to the flavour.

-Letitia Clark

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Fresh strawberries - Substitution option: you can also use frozen strawberries 
• Sugar - Caster sugar or granulated sugar
• Lemons
• Butter - a TINY amount

Instructions

• Night before: Wash and cut strawberries, add sugar and lemons (juice), stir, cover, and leave overnight. 
• Next day: Sterilize the jars.
• Remove the lemons, pour the fruit and the syrup into a saucepan, and bring to a full rolling boil. Simmer.
• Do the Wrinkle test 
• Add the nut butter and salt. Stir.
• Ladle into jars, seal, let the jam cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Why Is There No Pectin?

This no-pectin recipe doesn't use extra additives because there is already natural pectin from the strawberries. The fresh lemon juice will help the pectin from the strawberries set without needing a store-bought thickening agent. Store-bought pectin does help prolong the shelf life of strawberry preserves but since this recipe is only for small batch strawberry jam, and the shelf life for this no pectin jam is 10 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer, you will probably finish this before it goes bad. 

Importance of Sterilizing Your Jam Jars

Even though this is an easy strawberry jam recipe that uses simple ingredients and instructions, it doesn't mean you can overlook this part of the canning process, which is a very crucial step in your jam-making. If you don't sterilize your jars you could have harmful bacteria, yeast, or fungi growing in them. Plus, sterilizing your jars increases the longevity of your jam. Unfortunately, cleaning your jars in hot soapy water is only the beginning of the cleaning process.  Below I've listed a few different methods for the best results on getting clean jars for your homemade jam to go into.

Important note: Do not add hot jam into cold jars or cold jam into hot jars. The extreme differing temperatures will cause the glass to shatter.

Oven 

• Line the oven shelves with newspaper (keep away from flame if using gas) and heat the oven to 275 F / 130 C.
• Place jars on top of the newspaper and leave them in the oven for at least 20 minutes, then remove them using oven mitts.

Dishwash

• If your dishwasher gets hot enough, place your clean jars and run a cleaning cycle. 

Microwave

• DO NOT USE WITH METAL LIDS.
• Place your slightly wet (and clean) jars in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds.

Hot Water Bath

• Place your cleaned jars right side up in a pot of water (make sure the water covers them by about an inch) and boil for at least ten minutes.

source: The Spruce Eats

The Wrinkle Test

This is a quick and easy way to make sure that you get a perfect strawberry jam, and the best part is you only need a ceramic plate and no other special equipment (especially if you don't have a candy thermometer). 

1. Place a plate in a refrigerator (or freezer).
2. Remove the chilled plate fridge and pour a little bit of hot jam onto the plate.
3. Return to the freezer (about a minute, or a couple of minutes if you are placing it in the fridge)
4. Take it out and push the jam with your finger. 
5. If it wrinkles, it is set, if it doesn't wrinkle, you need to cook it a little bit more.

If this test or cooking process is a little too vague for you, a great way to ensure that you have reached the setting point for your jam is to use a candy thermometer and heat the jam to 220F° / 105C°.

source: Good Stuff

Equipment

• Large bowl
• Large saucepan OR jam pan
• Mason jars OR canning jars
• Candy thermometer (optional)
• Canning funnel (optional)
• Stockpot or canning pot (with a rack that fits inside it)

Storage

If you can't finish all of the jam within 10 days of refrigerating it, then it can be frozen in sealed jars for up to 3 months.  

More British Recipes

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Recipe

Strawberry Lemon Jam Recipe with No Pectin Added

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5 from 2 reviews

• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

Print Recipe

Description

A bright, tangy jam, packed with fresh strawberries and lemon—no pectin needed. Perfect for spreading on toast, filling pastries, or gifting.

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Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

• 1.2 kg strawberries
• 800 g sugar (caster or granulated)
• 2 lemons
• Small pinch salt
• A tiny piece of butter (literally hazelnut size)

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Instructions

Cue Up The Recipe!

1. Make sure you listen to Letitia's episode of The Storied Recipe Podcast, I Wanted to Encourage People” Letitia Clark, Author of “Bitter Honey while you make her amazing Strawberry Lemon Jam Without Pectin.

The night before

1. Cut off the tops of your strawberries and halve them. Place them in a large bowl, pour in the sugar, cut the lemons into quarters (removing any seeds), squeeze them over the fruit, and then drop the quartered lemons into the bowl.
2. Stir the whole lot a few times and then cover and leave to macerate overnight.

The next day

1. Sterilize your jars. (See the note section below for 4 different ways to sterilize.)
2. Remove the lemons from the bowl of strawberries and discard them. Pour the fruit and the syrup into a jam pan (or large saucepan) and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes.

The Wrinkle Test

1. While the jam is simmering, place one or two small plates in the fridge.
2. Once the plates are cold, remove them from the fridge and pour a little jam onto one of the cold plates. Wait a few seconds and then push it with your finger. If wrinkles appear on the surface of the jam then your jam is ready to pot. If not, cook for a few minutes longer.
3. Add a small amount of butter and a pinch of salt and stir gently to dissolve the scum.

Sealing the jars

1. Ladle into your prepared jars.
2. Leave about a 1/4 of an inch of space from the top of the lid.
3. Stir until the air bubbles are gone from the jam.
4. Secure the lids just until the rings feel snug with a little bit of tension. If you tighten them too much it won't allow for air to escape from the jar which is crucial in the canning process.
5. Using a deep, large pot, fill it about halfway with water and set it to a low boil.
6. Place the jars on a rack that fits into your pot and lower into the water making sure that the water covers the jar by about an inch or two. Place upright and don't stack on top of each other.
7. Cover the pot and return to a boil for about 10 minutes or so. 
8. Using tongs or a rack lifter, remove them from the water and place the jars on the countertop covered by a towel for up to 24 hours or until the jars reach room temperature. If there is a slight indentation on the top of the lid, you will know that your jar has a good seal.
9. Refrigerate for up to 10 days.

Notes

• 4 Ways to Sterilize your jars
• Important note: Do not add hot jam into cold jars or cold jam into hot jars. The extreme differing temperatures will cause the glass to shatter.

  (1) Oven 

  1. Line the oven shelves with newspaper (keep away from flame if using gas) and heat the oven to 275 F / 130 C.
  2. Place the jars on top of the newspaper and leave in the oven for at least 20 minutes, then remove using oven mitts.

  (2) Dishwash

  • If your dishwasher gets hot enough, place your clean jars and run a cleaning cycle. 

  (3) Microwave

  • DO NOT USE WITH METAL LIDS.
  • Place your slightly wet (and clean) jars in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds.

  Hot Water Bath

  • Place your cleaned jars right side up in a pot of water (make sure the water covers them by about an inch) and boil for at least ten minutes.

  Make sure to listen to Letitia on The Storied Recipe Podcast, "I Wanted to Encourage People” Letitia Clark, Author of “Bitter Honey” while you make her Strawberry Jam recipe!

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Category: Sauces
• Cuisine: British

Nutrition

• Calories: 300