Kitchen Kulture: Strawberry Jam 101
Before becoming an essential sweet staple in all our houses, pantries and cupboards, jam (aka preserves, conserves and marmalades for a fancier calling) was an astounding delicacy, a super smart way to preserve fruits before going bad and at times a genius invention.
It goes way back in history and is always present in stories from the Roman era, the Pharaohs, the Crusaders, the Tudors in England and more. The idea of having a sweet, fragrant, thick paste in thirty minutes that can be made with any fruit is simply in itself genius!
Jam is simply royal. As far as my memory serves me right and as far as Grandmas’ cookbooks can date back, Date, Fig, Marmalade and Apricot Jams definitely make the list when it comes to the authentic Egyptian dessert chapter. However, I consider Strawberry Jam to be the Queen Bee of all.
It is what I recommend you start with before taking it up a notch with other fruits because it is really simple to make and very versatile when it comes to usage. Layer it in between a chocolate cake for a kick, spread it on butter and toast, eat it plain – it never fails you.
Ingredients:
- 1 kg strawberries, washed & chopped up into pieces
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 lemon squeezed
- 1 empty clean jar
Method:
Place the strawberries, sugar and lemon in a sauce pan over high heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly.
The strawberries will start releasing their own syrup and will mix with the lemon sugar concoction to create a bubbly thick natural red syrup.
Put the heat on low while stirring, for another five minutes and slowly mash up the strawberries with your spatula, but just enough to leave a lot of chunks in there.
Put up the heat for the last five minutes and then take it off the stove.
Start pouring it into the jar using a ladle and leave it for half an hour to cool off before you cover and put in fridge.
WE SAID THIS: Enjoy!
