Strawberry Preserves

I had a few people ask me to write my recipe down for strawberry preserves, really I just use the recipe that comes with the pectin, but this will give you an idea of how much you need of each item.....

Lo-Sugar Strawberry Preserves

(also wonderful blended with other berries, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries, marionberries, blueberries etc...)

You'll need:
4 cups mashed Strawberries, to your liking, I leave some smaller berries almost whole
1 cup white grape juice
1 package Ball No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin, I get mine at Wal-mart, best pricing....
2 cups sugar, more or less from 0-3 cups depending on sweetness of your berries; compare that to 7 cups of sugar in a normal recipe, try tasting your berries through all that!
1/2 t. butter (reduces foaming)

-4-6 half pint jars, lids and rings.
-water bath canner, or a large pot, spaghetti or such with canning rings in a layer on the bottom to keep jars from touching the bottom. (I have a canner, but for small batches sometimes it's easier to not drag the huge thing out!
-canning funnel, jar grabber and magnet wand make things a lot easier!
-a few wash cloths, and 3 dish towels.


1. Prepare your water bath canner, I put the jars right in the canner to sterilize them. Then I do a separate pan for lids and rings which I put in the pan put together in layers so it's easy to grab one set out with your magnet wand. Bring lids to a simmer, but not to boil or it may mess up the wax on your lids....

2. Combine your fruit and the fruit juice in a 8 Quart sauce pan, heat on med high to high heat (careful not to scorch the bottom!!) gradually add the pectin, stirring constantly. Add butter. Bring mixture to a rolling boil that you cannot slow by stirring. Add your sugar all at once, it's a good idea to have what you think you'll need measured out already so you can just dump it in.

3. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil and boil hard for 3 minutes. You can skim off the foam if you want/need to.

4. Fill your jars!

Jar filling steps:
-Pull out jars, draining water from each and place on a towel laid beside the pan with your preserves. Using your canning funnel fill each jar to 1/4 inch from top.
-Now dip one of your wash cloths in the water from the lid pan and carefully and completely wipe around the jar rim of each jar. You need to remove any smears of jam so that the lids will properly seal. I go ahead and wipe all jars now. Before doing lids.....
-Now grab a lid with ring out of your pan for the first jar, place it in position, and using the dry remaining wash cloth grab your jar carefully and screw the ring on to hand tightness. You don't need to tighten as tight as you can possibly get it, air needs to escape during the canning process, but do tighten well. Place jar back in canner to stay warm. Finish with remaining jars.
-Once all jars are in the canner, turn temp back up to high. When it starts to boil again, set timer for 10 minutes and turn down burner a bit. You don't need a full rolling boil for canning, just a steady boil.
-get your area ready where your jars will sit for 24 hours untouched. (I leave mine for at least 12 if it's pretty cool in the house, but the full time if it has been hot.) I place a double layer of dish towels down in a corner of my kitchen.
-Keep checking to make sure that you are still boiling, if not turn back up and reset timer. It's best to just stay in the room and check several times so you don't doubt how long it stopped etc.
-when your timer goes off, carefully remove lid and then jars to towel on counter. Let sit for 12-24 hours.
-A jar has been sealed it the button on the lid doesn't pop up and down when you press it. If you have one that didn't seal just put it in the fridge, your first sample!! Yum! Jelly jars usually are very quick to seal, you'll hear loud pops as they seal almost as quickly as you can pull them out of the canner. Some are stubborn, though and will wait almost an hour.
-Wipe the jars down if they got a little jam on the side during processing, and put on your shelf to enjoy later!
-If I use my own berries which I grow organically, or go pick at a local field I do like to spring for Organic Sugar.... Doesn't really make a difference in the taste, but after taking such good care of my berries, I like to pamper them and my family with good sugar :P Funny thing, a hundred and fifty years ago the "good" sugar was pure white, now the "good" sugar is unbleached and rougher ground!
-If anyone sees something that needs correcting, PLEASE let me know. Or if you have comments or your own twist, please share!!