HOW TO: REFRIGERATOR JAM
Refrigerator Jam is a quick and easy way to make a fruity spread. It is great for biscuits, topping pancakes, and my favorite - making peanut butter and jam sandwiches. This recipe is for a small batch recipe - like ½ Pint small. I made a small batch because this refrigerator jam must be stored in the refrigerator and lasts about two weeks. This is the perfect size for my household. Papa Paige and I take about two-weeks to consume a half-pint of jam. If you want more jam or sharing with loved ones, feel free to multiple the recipe.
I love this recipe because it doesn’t take long to make, uses minimal ingredients, and you don’t need pectin. Pectin is a plant-based gelling agent that works as a thickening agent. Pectin can replace its animal-based cousin – gelatin – to get the gelatinous texture the is found in jellies or gummies. While pectin is plant-based, we are leaving it out of this recipe because most people don’t have pectin on hand. We want to keep this how-to recipe as simple as possible – using ingredients commonly found in the kitchen.
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LET’S JAM
In a medium-sized pot, place 1 ½ cups of fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or any combination of berries). To the berries, add ¼ cup of white sugar. Mash berries and sugar with a potato masher. Once the berries are broken down, stir in the rest of the ingredients: 1 tablespoon of lime juice and 1 teaspoon of a plant-based butter. Bring mixture to a boil. Then, turn the heat down to medium. Continue cooking the mixture for 20 minutes. Be sure to stir the whole time the mixture is cooking. After the 20 minutes is up, most of the liquid will have absorbed. The mixture will start to gel a bit more once it cools. Once the berry mixture is cool enough to handle, carefully pour into a half-pint canning jar. The jam will be very hot and sticky.
A Few Helpful Tools:
A FEW TIPS
Make sure you remove any stems and leaves from the berries. If using strawberries, hull the strawberries and roughly chop them before adding them into the pot.
You can use frozen berries instead of fresh. If you use frozen berries, make sure you defrost the berries to room temperature before roughly chopping for use.
You can add herbs to give your jam a more gourmet flavor profile. Here are some of my favorite combinations: strawberry and basil, blueberry and lemongrass, strawberry and allspice, and blueberry and lavender.
This is a refrigerator jam which means there are no preservatives and that the jam is not processed in a traditional water bath canning method. Refrigerator jam should be kept in the refrigerator. Two weeks is about as long as you should keep the jam, but it is so good, it will not likely last that long!
To make a fresh and fruity pancake or ice-cream syrup, cook for half the time. You can also use the syrup in fresh lemonade or as a fresh syrup for an adult beverage.
