Do you cook the strawberry and lemon purée together before jarring? I wonder how the jam is after several months… i.e., does it separate?
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The strawberries/sugar are added to the lemon purée in the blender and are mixed together and then cooked. I have never had a separation as I’ve made them previously. Using the entire lemon also provides a lot of pectin. I just made a raspberry/lemon combination, in this case , I used 12 oz. of raspberries, 150g. sugar to one pound of Meyer lemons. I mixed the lemon purée with the macerated raspberries and then cooked as usual.
Very interesting technique! Does the pressure cooking remove some of the bitterness from the pith?
It need not be pressure cooked to remove some of the bitterness. The lemons can be cooked stove top covered with water until tender. The lemons require less sugar when they are cooked this way. One cup sugar to one pound of lemons is a modest amount. I sometimes use one and an eighth cup depending on the lemons. I’ve only used Meyer.
I used a mix of strawberry and raspberry lemon jam as a filling for a mini cake.
Strawberry lemon jam
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Very excited to discover this thread!! I will probably start jamming in May… just need to give away the approximately 3 dozen jars I have left from last year…
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Strawberries not ready around here yet; Strawberries and lemon would be awesome. Maybe I can keep a few lemons, or make the puree in advance?
For now, I’ve gone way off the tracks trying to use up some local Meyer lemons, grapefruits, and oranges. I’m leaning toward this jam recipe.
Or this one for jelly…
…but prefer the idea of using natural pectin, over commercial. I do have low sugar commercial pectin.
I think these recipes describe using natural pectin; “seeds, membranes and pith (all of which contain high amounts of pectin)”, or “zest cooking liquid”, both requiring additional water.
Marmalade is “not my favorite”, but I don’t mind a bit of zest.
Any suggestions on the best way to add “zest cooking liquid” as a sub for commercial pectin in jam?
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Those all sound great - let us know what you do!
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Perhaps you would consider freezing the purée which I have done successfully. My strawberries were not local and in spite of that, the jam is delicious. I usually wait for local berries but can’t complain about the ones I used. I made another batch of raspberry lemon, using 3/4 pound of each and I’m very happy with the results. I am planning on freezing the lemon purée in 3/4 pound batches, I think blueberry lemon would also be a nice combination.
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Thank you!
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Will do!
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One more.
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This recipe doesn’t say what kind of pectin; I have low sugar powder, and liquid. Liquid seems preferred for pepper jellies but it goes in at the end, instead of the beginning. Also, is the vinegar in this recipe for flavor or pH? There should be plenty of acid from the citrus, no?
"Rosemary Three Citrus Jamalade " inspired by “The View from the Great Island” recipe. (Blood orange, grapefruit, Meyer lemon) .
…and @Nannybakes , I just saw the first local 
sign!
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Lucky you! I hope you have the time to try the strawberry lemon jam. Mother’s Day weekend is usually the beginning of the short lived strawberry season by me.
The three citrus marmalade looks mighty delicious…beautiful color!
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Apparently I was not the first person to think of “Jamalade”.
More ideas.
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It won’t be long now, my lovelies! Okay,yes it will.
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YAY! Jamming season is here!
Today I drove across the county in the rain to buy a well-priced flat of strawberries from a farm I’ve picked at/bought from before. I am a strawberry obsessive and I like to think I have an eye for good berries, but these were among the best I’ve ever purchased. In eight quarts, I might have found 4 berries that were bruised at all, the flavor and ripeness of the berries were both outstanding, and the size was pretty uniform, which is very unusual.
Anyway, tonight I began making two batches of Christine Ferber’s strawberry jam, one plain and one that will have black pepper and mint.
After strawberry season, I’ll make small batches of raspberry and blackberry (the de-seeding is so incredibly tedious and mom won’t eat either flavor, so a few jars will do,) then a LOT of peach, a bit of apricot (the harvest around here is not consistent, so it’s always a toss-up if I’ll be able to make any), some tomato jam from my homegrown tomatoes, and finally plum. I spent years making sour cherry jam and not convincing anyone else to eat any, so I’ll funnel my cherry energy into pie, crumbles, cake, etc.
Last year I also canned peaches in syrup for the first time in my canning career. Canned peaches were something my mother made when I was a kid, so it was mostly a little exercise in nostalgia. I didn’t expect to be gobsmacked by the peaches when I opened the first jar in the middle of winter, but I was. They were canned plain, but had developed a luscious, honeyed flavor that just knocked me out.
Other things I can: chopped tomatoes, homemade applesauce, and pear butter. All water bath - I’ve never pressure-canned, but I really should.
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We made Christine Ferber’s strawberry jam this weekend and it is delicious, but it came out more like strawberries in syrup. Has that been your experience with that recipe? I’m wondering if we are doing something wrong or if that is more the French style jam. Either way, it has wonderful flavor!
