We cook thick strawberry jam

The most delicious strawberry jam comes from childhood. Someone was brewing his mother. And someone specially went to the village to visit his grandmother to get to the delightful action - the collection of fragrant berries, from which a thick strawberry jam was prepared in the aftermath. By the way, completely forgot about the "foam" ... What can be more delicious?

It is not difficult to cook jam. Variations of cooking mass. You should choose a recipe not only from your taste preferences, but also from the possibilities of storage, the quality of the fruit. Consider three types of berries for cooking. The first one is called "extra-class". It includes selected large berries that have just been ripped off. To buy such extreme is difficult. So you can find them, if only they grew up in your garden. From them you will get the most fragrant, "elite", thick strawberry jam. To make of them something else is considered blasphemy, well, if only to eat fresh.

Berries need to be rinsed lightly from dust. It is important to cut the stems after washing, as otherwise the strawberry will absorb excess liquid. A container for cooking choose a wide (ideally, if all berries fall in one layer). The classical proportions for strawberry jam are 1: 1. But if you can reduce the amount of sugar due to the sweetness of strawberries, do it. If the berries, on the contrary, are too acidic, safely add the "sand". Cook the syrup. This is done simply. Pour half a cup of water into the bottom of the pan (you can less if the volume of sugar is small), turn on a quiet fire and pour sugar, gradually dissolving it in syrup. When it becomes transparent and boils, send the berries there. Try not to injure them. Leave everything on low heat until it boils. Foam may form from this point. It must be removed without touching the berries with a spoon. Allow to leave for half an hour, turn off and leave until completely cooled. Repeat the procedure with boiling and cooling must be at least three times. Strawberry jam can be obtained in the case when all the liquid evaporates, there will be caramel and berries themselves. Density is checked as follows: a drop of hot dessert should not lose its shape, even if the surface on which you drop is tilted. For better and longer storage it is advisable to pour the still not cooled jam on sterile jars and roll up the lids. You can close it with plastic and just store it in the fridge.

How to cook strawberry jam if the berries are not so perfect? Similarly, only making syrup is optional. Fill them with sugar in the proportion you need and leave for a while, so that the juice from the berries absorbed into the "sand", and the process of its dissolution began. After this, put on a weak fire and cook, as in the previous recipe

Dense strawberry jam will turn out well and from berries not the first freshness. You can use the previous recipe, or you can use a blender. Grind everything in a homogeneous puree, mix with sugar and put into the freezer, if its volume permits, if not, then for a shorter period in the refrigerator. Or add a packet of "Zhelmix" (apple pectin), bring to a boil, then sprinkle the remaining sugar, boil for three minutes and pour over the jars.