Summertime means that beautiful fresh fruit is readily available, and it’s cheap. Well, as cheap as fresh fruit gets, anyway. The other day I picked up three pints of strawberries and decided to make jam with them. I have been on a jam-making kick lately, and have discovered several delicious combinations of flavors that we have enjoyed using for jam. Today’s choice was strawberry and champagne. Did you know that you can make jam using alcoholic beverages? Well, you can. And strawberry and champagne is a delicious combination!
There are many sites you can go to to learn how to properly can jam. I won’t cover that here, because well, I don’t feel qualified for that. I’m certainly no expert on how to can, and I don’t want anybody getting sick because I didn’t give proper canning instructions. If you want to know the how-to’s of canning, you can click on over to freshpreserving.com and read up on it. But I did want you to have the recipe and instructions for making the jam.
First, find a darling eight-year-old who loves to help her mama. Have her cut up three pints of strawberries, discarding the tops. Chop very finely by hand or chop in blender. (I opted for blender.)
You will want to get them completely chopped, but not totally pureed. Jam should have some small chunks of fruit in it.
In a large pot on the stove, add the strawberries and one cup of champagne. I picked up this bottle from my sister-in-law’s wedding last year and never opened it, so today was a good time to let it go. Whisk in one box of Sure-Jell fruit pectin.
Bring your fruit and champagne mixture to a rolling boil over high heat, whisking constantly.
When it comes to a rolling boil, quickly whisk in seven cups of sugar. Yes, I said seven cups. Return to rolling boil, whisking constantly. When it reaches a rolling boil, let it boil for one minute. Pour immediately into sterilized canning jars. Continue canning process per instructions.
If you make strawberry and champagne jam, you will have happy people in your house.
If you make this yummy recipe, let me know how it turns out for you! Happy jammin’!
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