Fraser Strawberry Jam

Outlander Kitchen

We love strawberries in this house, and strawberry jam is our go-to. Usually I make it with added pectin, but this is a more old fashioned recipe that uses granny smith apples (and their natural pectin) to set the jam. These apples don't cook down as much as the strawberries do, so it's a bit chunkier than our usual recipe -- and don't worry, it still tastes like strawberries, not apples.

I did have one problem with the recipe as written. 212 degrees Fahrenheit was not enough to get this jam to set up correctly! After the first batch didn't look quite right, I checked online and re-boiled the other half of my jam until it hit 220 before processing those in jars. That turned out perfectly, with a not too thick, not too thin jam. Now I just need to cook the first batch again, and re-process them. Another day. They are safely processed and will keep until I decide it's time.

Captions

[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with heather today we're going to be
[00:08]: working from
[00:09]: the outlander kitchen cookbook and we
[00:11]: are going to be making frasier
[00:13]: strawberry jam i've made strawberry jam
[00:16]: before on my channel and i'll link that
[00:17]: up here
[00:18]: but for that i used pectin which is a
[00:23]: very modern way to make
[00:25]: uh jam right
[00:27]: um but for this instead of pectin
[00:32]: she uses apples
[00:34]: which have natural pectin in it so
[00:37]: it's going to be sort of an apple
[00:38]: strawberry jam but the apples are mainly
[00:40]: for the pectin
[00:43]: the first thing we need to do is
[00:45]: sterilize our jars now i don't have an
[00:47]: actual canner i really should have
[00:50]: bought one at some point i
[00:51]: have a big pot
[00:54]: i meant to buy a rack
[00:56]: that will hold the jars to go in it but
[00:59]: i have to measure it and it's in the
[01:00]: garage and all that's just not happening
[01:02]: but
[01:03]: i can do half pint jars of jam in here
[01:06]: and that is what she suggests you make
[01:09]: i use my pasta pot it's sort of just
[01:12]: barely big enough as far as the water um
[01:15]: [Music]
[01:16]: coming up i can do about seven at a time
[01:18]: so we're gonna have to can two batches
[01:21]: here
[01:22]: um
[01:22]: that'll be okay that'll be okay uh but
[01:25]: the first thing we need we need to do is
[01:26]: put this on the stove bring this to a
[01:28]: boil and boil it for 10 minutes
[01:32]: that will sterilize them then we're
[01:33]: going to
[01:34]: turn the heat off put the lid on just to
[01:37]: keep them hot while we finish making the
[01:40]: jam i'm going to get that started
[01:41]: because that's going to take a while
[01:43]: in this pan i have the lids which are
[01:46]: these um
[01:48]: the round flat things that go on top and
[01:50]: then you screw the rings onto
[01:53]: the jars these have to be new so if you
[01:56]: have jars you keep
[01:59]: the rings they can be reused these if
[02:02]: you are canning them need to be
[02:04]: new they have um
[02:07]: something on this part that sort of
[02:10]: melts as you
[02:12]: uh
[02:12]: as you boil it as you process it to help
[02:15]: keep that seal
[02:17]: um so that it does the nice poppy thing
[02:20]: and and you can tell that it's actually
[02:22]: canned correctly we'll talk about that
[02:23]: later
[02:24]: but these you don't want to boil for
[02:26]: very long and uh because you don't want
[02:29]: to melt
[02:30]: that stuff so these
[02:33]: in a separate pan covered with water um
[02:36]: we're going to bring these to a boil and
[02:38]: immediately turn it off and cover it and
[02:40]: they'll be ready
[02:41]: um
[02:42]: for us to use when we're done
[02:44]: do that too
[02:46]: i'll get that going once the other ones
[02:48]: are boiling because my stove won't do
[02:51]: that on
[02:52]: the same zone at the same time so
[02:55]: that's okay
[02:56]: and then
[02:57]: i want to talk about the other
[02:59]: ingredients
[02:60]: not there's not a lot honestly um
[03:03]: strawberries this is this measures them
[03:05]: by the pound instead of
[03:08]: by the cup
[03:09]: so that's what we did here and they are
[03:11]: either halved or quartered depending on
[03:13]: the size but i did cut all of them even
[03:15]: if they were kind of small just to give
[03:16]: it a little bit of
[03:18]: [Music]
[03:19]: the the inside sort of
[03:22]: where it's cut releases the juice and
[03:24]: all that a little bit better than the
[03:26]: outside does so i did make sure to cut
[03:28]: all of them
[03:29]: and
[03:30]: obviously take off the green hull so you
[03:33]: want them hulled
[03:34]: washed rinse them with cold water pretty
[03:36]: well um hold and then quartered or
[03:39]: halved depending on the size so those
[03:41]: are there
[03:42]: and these apples these are granny smith
[03:44]: apples i've already cut up most of them
[03:47]: these were also measured by weight it
[03:49]: was about two parts strawberry to
[03:53]: one part
[03:55]: apples
[03:56]: so
[03:60]: that's the measurements here i'm not
[04:02]: going to give you full measurements
[04:03]: obviously but
[04:06]: that's the ratio she's using here
[04:09]: um
[04:10]: and these are supposed to be peeled
[04:13]: quartered and cut into
[04:16]: one half
[04:18]: one half inch or smaller pieces i think
[04:21]: she says
[04:22]: into smaller than one half inch pieces
[04:24]: so
[04:25]: that is what i have done with most of
[04:27]: them but i thought i would show you the
[04:29]: way i do it i don't it
[04:32]: it's not fast but i feel good about it
[04:35]: so
[04:37]: it gives me some nice cubes
[04:42]: so
[04:43]: there we go we got a lot of trash there
[04:45]: but that's a right
[04:48]: cut them in half
[04:50]: put them in quarters
[04:53]: and then
[04:54]: on an angle to get out as much of the
[04:58]: core as you can
[05:00]: and then i kind of set it up so it's
[05:02]: where it's
[05:03]: quartered and then
[05:05]: cut it into
[05:07]: less than half inch pieces this way
[05:11]: and then do the same thing on the other
[05:14]: long side
[05:16]: less than half inch pieces that way
[05:21]: it's usually three or four sometimes
[05:23]: five slices
[05:25]: and then
[05:28]: that's how we get the cubes
[05:31]: the last way
[05:32]: and i'm just putting them into
[05:35]: the very large pot we needed she says an
[05:38]: 8 quart or larger
[05:40]: pot
[05:43]: for this and so i don't know i think i
[05:45]: think that's eight quart and no it's at
[05:47]: least eight quart but i didn't check
[05:49]: the bottom to see
[05:51]: make sure exactly how big it was but
[05:53]: it's the biggest one i have that is not
[05:56]: absolutely ginormous so
[06:00]: and these if you cut them too early they
[06:03]: will get a little bit brown as you may
[06:05]: be able to see
[06:07]: [Music]
[06:10]: but that doesn't matter so much here
[06:11]: because we are cooking them
[06:14]: [Music]
[06:21]: so that's it for
[06:24]: a little see there for our apples and
[06:26]: our strawberries and smells so good it
[06:28]: smells like strawberries um the only
[06:30]: other ingredient we have besides
[06:33]: a lot of sugar which i have already
[06:34]: measured but you do not put this in here
[06:37]: just yet i've made that mistake once
[06:39]: before
[06:40]: my jam didn't set up so
[06:43]: pay attention to the instructions
[06:45]: and maybe that won't happen to you
[06:47]: the pectin is what helps the jam set up
[06:50]: so i've got some fresh lemon juice and
[06:52]: i'm just going to strain it through here
[06:54]: because i know that i had
[06:56]: a couple of seeds that i don't want in
[06:59]: there
[07:01]: we're going to stir all this up
[07:12]: just to sort of get it mixed before we
[07:14]: go to the stove
[07:16]: right now it feels like there's not
[07:18]: enough juice in here it's not going to
[07:20]: cook but it will i'm sure it will the
[07:22]: strawberries once they start getting
[07:24]: warm we'll let off a lot of juice and
[07:26]: then when the sugar goes in it'll
[07:29]: it'll be even juicier
[07:32]: right so here we have just
[07:34]: fruit and lemon juice
[07:37]: and for this we're going to bring it to
[07:39]: a full boil over medium heat and stir it
[07:42]: constantly this is not something that
[07:44]: you can
[07:47]: go away from um and let it just go
[07:51]: and then we're going to going to stir it
[07:55]: then we're going to add the sugar and
[07:56]: then we're going to stir it until it
[07:57]: gets 212 degrees so i'll talk about that
[07:59]: again when we move over to the stove
[08:02]: just because that's a lot of work for my
[08:05]: stove to do i'm gonna go ahead and get
[08:07]: the
[08:08]: lids and rings
[08:09]: boiled before i put this on and have a
[08:12]: timer now for my
[08:15]: jars
[08:17]: i'm gonna move everything over to the
[08:19]: stove
[08:20]: okay so my jars boiled for 10 minutes
[08:23]: and i put
[08:24]: a lid on it turn it off
[08:27]: so they'll they're nice and sterilized
[08:28]: and ready for the jam
[08:31]: our jam is started over here uh it's on
[08:34]: medium heat and we're waiting for it to
[08:38]: uh
[08:39]: come to a boil
[08:40]: so this is gonna take a little while
[08:43]: we're supposed to stir it constantly
[08:46]: just make sure it doesn't
[08:48]: um
[08:49]: scorch or burn
[08:52]: so that's what i'll be doing here for
[08:54]: quite a while
[08:55]: um i do want to say
[08:57]: even if you've had
[08:59]: if even if you have brand new jars you
[09:01]: want to make sure you wash them before
[09:03]: you do all this they don't have to be
[09:05]: dry you can put it in the dishwasher
[09:07]: that's fine but you want to make sure
[09:09]: you wash them before
[09:11]: you do this just in case you know they
[09:13]: might have stuff on it from the factory
[09:16]: um
[09:17]: and there are some tools that i have
[09:18]: that make it a little bit easier a
[09:20]: canning funnel is great
[09:22]: uh it makes you get less
[09:25]: stuff on the top of the
[09:27]: jar when you put it into the jar
[09:30]: so
[09:32]: if you if you have to wipe that off if
[09:34]: you get stuff on the top of the jar
[09:35]: otherwise it won't seal properly
[09:38]: so this helps with that and it helps not
[09:41]: make quite as much of a mess
[09:47]: those these also have been cleaned so
[09:49]: i've got just some tongs here i use that
[09:52]: mostly for like the rings and things
[09:55]: um
[09:56]: this is a magnetic lifter it helps a lot
[09:60]: with the lids because you can just put
[10:02]: it in the hot water and then come up
[10:04]: with a lid
[10:06]: and
[10:11]: this
[10:12]: is good to help transfer the jars if you
[10:15]: need it if they're really hot you can
[10:19]: pick them up like that
[10:20]: so
[10:21]: i don't always use all of it but we'll
[10:23]: see how it goes today
[10:25]: i need to wash this one this is the one
[10:27]: i do use more often
[10:30]: you put it in and grab the a jar from
[10:33]: around the lid around the the top rim
[10:36]: and pull it up out of the hot water
[10:38]: we'll need to wash this one and get it
[10:40]: ready make sure it's clean
[10:42]: this one i do use pretty much all the
[10:44]: time
[10:48]: a little impatient
[10:49]: because i do that i'm going to turn the
[10:51]: heat up a little bit to try and get this
[10:53]: to boil a little bit faster because
[10:58]: i think we've been working on this for
[10:59]: like half now more than half an hour
[11:00]: let's look
[11:03]: turned it up to medium high
[11:04]: and now i think we're going to get our
[11:06]: full boil
[11:07]: leave it alone so it does boil
[11:10]: for just just a minute
[11:13]: i think i'm going to call that a full
[11:14]: boil it's definitely higher than a
[11:16]: simmer i think it'll be fine
[11:19]: and now
[11:21]: we add
[11:23]: a lot of sugar
[11:33]: a lot
[11:37]: and we need to stir this in
[11:39]: until it's all dissolved
[11:43]: and now we're going to keep this at a
[11:46]: gentle somewhat gentle boil
[11:50]: until
[11:51]: it hits
[11:52]: 212 degrees on my instant read
[11:55]: thermometer now if you
[11:58]: use a candy thermometer and have luck
[12:00]: with that this is the time to pull that
[12:03]: out
[12:04]: i
[12:05]: have never had much luck with that but i
[12:07]: do love my instant read thermometer so
[12:10]: she says it'll take
[12:12]: 15 to 25 minutes at this stage so
[12:16]: we'll see
[12:20]: i'm gonna let it come back up to a full
[12:22]: boil and sort of
[12:24]: take it down just a little bit if it
[12:25]: boils too hard
[12:28]: and we only need to stir this
[12:30]: occasionally well frequently but not
[12:32]: constantly at this point so
[12:35]: so it's about five minutes to even start
[12:37]: boiling again after i put the sugar in
[12:40]: so
[12:41]: so i'm going to turn this off
[12:45]: actually i'm going to
[12:46]: keep it on low because we want to keep
[12:48]: this
[12:48]: warm
[12:50]: and i'm going to have to do two batches
[12:51]: of all of this so
[12:55]: yeah it's definitely
[12:56]: uh above 212 so cool
[12:58]: um
[13:00]: so now
[13:03]: i have to deal with the jars
[13:07]: so
[13:09]: because there it needs more water to
[13:11]: cover when they're empty i'm going to
[13:13]: have to take some of my water out so i
[13:15]: have a
[13:16]: pyrex
[13:17]: container that i can use for that and go
[13:21]: ahead and take out
[13:23]: these jars
[13:26]: make sure i get as much water out as i
[13:28]: can
[13:31]: [Music]
[13:38]: so i normally
[13:39]: would do this all like
[13:43]: at once
[13:44]: but i'm going to do
[13:47]: one here where you guys can see me a
[13:49]: little bit better
[13:55]: so i'm gonna put my
[13:59]: canning funnel in here
[14:06]: sorry
[14:08]: give it a stir just to make sure we're
[14:10]: good here now that foam is
[14:13]: normal
[14:14]: and some people will tell you to
[14:18]: scoop it off i don't particularly care
[14:21]: um
[14:24]: it's up to you
[14:25]: i'm gonna use a
[14:31]: uh
[14:33]: ladle
[14:34]: we want to label it in here until you
[14:36]: have about
[14:39]: a
[14:41]: quarter inch she says
[14:43]: of space at the top between the rim
[14:48]: there we go so in mine
[14:50]: i need it to come
[14:52]: above
[14:54]: where the funnel goes in
[14:56]: but not too far above so i think we've
[14:57]: got about a half an inch there which
[14:59]: will be fine
[15:01]: and then
[15:03]: you get
[15:05]: a lid
[15:12]: put that on top
[15:17]: and then
[15:19]: a ring
[15:21]: put that on top and if i'd gotten any uh
[15:24]: jam on the top of the
[15:27]: glass i would have um
[15:33]: wiped it off with a damp paper towel but
[15:35]: i did not so
[15:37]: now this is still really hot
[15:39]: i'm gonna move this back over here
[15:42]: and i'm gonna do probably six because i
[15:46]: think
[15:47]: i think with them all filled i can fit
[15:49]: six so i'm gonna go ahead and do the
[15:52]: other five
[15:54]: over here
[15:60]: take out as much of this as i
[16:03]: can because i know i will need to have a
[16:05]: lot out
[16:09]: this is just normally i would just do it
[16:11]: all at once but
[16:13]: do this over here where you guys
[16:14]: probably can't see me these are
[16:19]: [Music]
[16:27]: back on this keep it warm for my next
[16:29]: batch
[16:32]: so
[16:33]: got a little strawberry action there
[16:37]: and just
[16:38]: wipe the rest off just in case
[16:44]: there we go
[16:45]: so that's done
[16:47]: now
[16:50]: [Music]
[16:56]: i'm going to put these back into
[16:58]: here
[17:03]: my canner
[17:07]: [Music]
[17:11]: and that is just about right so now i'm
[17:13]: going to
[17:14]: bring this up to a boil as quickly as i
[17:15]: can
[17:17]: and
[17:24]: uh
[17:25]: after it comes to a boil
[17:27]: they boil for
[17:28]: five minutes
[17:30]: so boil these for five minutes that's
[17:31]: called the processing time
[17:34]: um you will see bubbles coming out
[17:36]: that's sort of the air
[17:39]: that's in the jars being
[17:41]: pushed out
[17:43]: creating sort of a vacuum in there
[17:45]: and then
[17:47]: the
[17:48]: rings
[17:49]: the the lids with the ring of
[17:52]: sort of thing something that dissolves a
[17:54]: little bit that softens in the boiling
[17:56]: water will help seal that
[17:59]: so
[18:01]: after these boil for five minutes you
[18:03]: just take them right out and it'll be
[18:04]: all done
[18:06]: um just let them sit at room temperature
[18:10]: and you should hear it pop
[18:13]: as the vacuum sort of pulls the lid in
[18:17]: they uh those those lids have a little
[18:20]: give and you will hear it pop as it
[18:24]: as it seals so
[18:29]: and then it's done and i will have to do
[18:32]: another batch
[18:33]: of
[18:35]: jars and
[18:37]: everything
[18:38]: um i'll do just the same thing i'm just
[18:40]: going to leave my
[18:42]: jam here on
[18:44]: low so it stays hot so it doesn't start
[18:47]: growing anything because we want you
[18:48]: want everything to be hot
[18:50]: when you
[18:51]: start to process it so
[18:53]: that's pretty much it for our jam we'll
[18:56]: let you know what we think of it in just
[18:58]: a minute
[19:00]: [Music]
[19:06]: on this episode of cooking the books
[19:07]: with heather you watched me make
[19:09]: fraser strawberry jam from teresa carl
[19:12]: sanders outlander kitchen cookbook
[19:15]: and
[19:16]: i had a problem with this recipe
[19:19]: in it she says to
[19:21]: cook the jam on the stove top until it
[19:24]: gets to
[19:25]: 212 degrees fahrenheit
[19:27]: and i did that for my first batch and i
[19:30]: was really
[19:31]: concerned because i felt like it
[19:32]: happened way too quickly and it didn't
[19:35]: look great and when i put it in the
[19:37]: jars all of the fruit floated to the top
[19:40]: all the bits of fruit floated to the top
[19:43]: and
[19:44]: that's not what's supposed to happen
[19:47]: luckily i've made jam before i did go
[19:49]: ahead and process those jars
[19:52]: and this is what you see here and
[19:55]: this is the next day
[19:57]: and
[19:58]: it is not jam
[20:00]: it is uh
[20:03]: very liquid
[20:05]: and there's no way i could serve this as
[20:08]: a jam
[20:10]: so i did a little research on the
[20:11]: internet
[20:12]: quick quick google search about like
[20:14]: what temperature
[20:16]: strawberry jam needs to be
[20:18]: and it says 220 degrees fahrenheit
[20:23]: so i took the other half of my batch so
[20:26]: i did about
[20:27]: six of these
[20:29]: and they're all like this
[20:31]: but i cooked the other half of my batch
[20:36]: longer
[20:38]: and it might have been the whole 15 to
[20:39]: 25 minutes total
[20:41]: after boiling that she says but the 212
[20:45]: degrees was
[20:47]: did not work for me and i do not think
[20:48]: that's right everything on the internet
[20:50]: says 220 degrees and when i did that
[20:55]: i almost had a mess there when i did
[20:57]: that you can see the the fruit is more
[21:00]: evenly distributed it looks way more
[21:02]: like what's in the book
[21:04]: and while it is
[21:06]: a little runny here
[21:08]: um it's a lot less runny and
[21:11]: out of the refrigerator it was fine and
[21:13]: she says this is a
[21:15]: compote style jam
[21:17]: and yeah it may be a little looser than
[21:20]: the jam that i make with pectin even at
[21:22]: 220 degrees i probably could have
[21:25]: cooked it a little bit longer and it
[21:26]: would have gotten a little bit more set
[21:29]: at room temperature but from the
[21:30]: refrigerator it's fine
[21:33]: so
[21:34]: just fyi
[21:37]: 212 will not work well
[21:40]: didn't work for me i doubt it'll work
[21:42]: for you i am not
[21:43]: at a high altitude i don't know if
[21:45]: temperatures i think that's just timing
[21:48]: i don't know i don't know how high
[21:49]: altitude high altitude baking or cooking
[21:53]: works so much because i've never
[21:56]: really cooked at a much higher altitude
[21:58]: we're
[21:59]: basically just a little bit above sea
[22:01]: level where i live so um and i've lived
[22:03]: here
[22:04]: pretty much all my life
[22:05]: um so
[22:08]: i would suggest 220 degrees
[22:11]: and an instant read thermometer is great
[22:13]: however if you don't have it
[22:15]: you can put a
[22:17]: plate in the refrigerator or the freezer
[22:20]: drip a little bit of your jam on there
[22:22]: and it should not let it cool down and
[22:25]: it should not be super liquidy um it was
[22:27]: a little little tiny bit liquidy once it
[22:30]: was all cool here but not
[22:33]: um
[22:34]: not flowing all over the plate like it
[22:36]: was
[22:37]: here so i'm really glad that i
[22:40]: corrected the mistake
[22:42]: for half of my
[22:44]: uh my jam but now i'm gonna have to
[22:47]: empty this into a pot
[22:50]: re-um
[22:52]: re-cook it until it's 220
[22:55]: wash these
[22:57]: use new lids because these have been
[22:59]: sealed
[23:00]: and reprocessed them just like i did the
[23:03]: first batch
[23:04]: so
[23:06]: everything else is exactly the same but
[23:08]: you cannot reuse this lid
[23:10]: it
[23:11]: has the potential not to seal correctly
[23:14]: if you do so you can buy these really
[23:16]: cheaply um just the the lids and not the
[23:19]: bands um
[23:21]: probably walmart target any place like
[23:23]: that should have them any place that has
[23:25]: canning jars usually has those
[23:28]: luckily i have some
[23:31]: so that's going to be another day these
[23:32]: are still perfectly safe because they
[23:35]: have been canned
[23:38]: it's the same ingredients as just a
[23:39]: little bit too thin
[23:41]: um
[23:43]: whereas
[23:44]: but so we just wouldn't want to use it
[23:48]: perfectly safe though um
[23:51]: you just have to re re-wash and redo
[23:53]: everything after you open it
[23:56]: after i filled the other six jars i had
[23:58]: a little bit left over so that's what
[23:60]: we've been eating on i just put it in
[24:01]: another jar and put it directly in the
[24:03]: refrigerator you can see it's a little
[24:06]: loose but you know
[24:07]: it's perfectly fine
[24:09]: the jam does not taste
[24:12]: much like apples
[24:14]: it tastes
[24:16]: like strawberry jam you do get a little
[24:18]: bit of the apple texture
[24:21]: in it
[24:22]: um but there are none of the usual apple
[24:24]: spices so don't think it's gonna taste
[24:26]: like apple butter or apple jelly or
[24:28]: anything so
[24:29]: um
[24:31]: but that those apples the granny smith
[24:33]: apples don't cook down
[24:35]: don't break up really easily like some
[24:38]: apples
[24:39]: i don't know if that's because of the
[24:40]: pectin up whatever they're one of the
[24:42]: apples that does not
[24:44]: sort of fall apart when you cook them
[24:46]: so you do end up with apple bits so make
[24:49]: sure that they are of a size that you
[24:51]: don't mind putting in your mouth
[24:53]: so that's why she says half smaller than
[24:56]: a half an inch so
[24:58]: but yeah um i enjoyed it just fine it's
[25:01]: probably not going to be my go-to
[25:03]: strawberry jam recipe but we'll have no
[25:05]: problem you know finishing this up um
[25:09]: and we go through quite a bit of
[25:11]: strawberry jam so
[25:13]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[25:15]: please hit the thumbs up hit the
[25:17]: subscribe button and come back and watch
[25:19]: me make something else including
[25:21]: something with this jam
[25:23]: uh in just a little bit
[25:25]: [Music]