26/09/2025
🍓STRAWBERRY VANILLA BEAN JAM🍓
I have a big bag full of frozen strawberries taking up some valuable real estate in the freezer so since today is overcast and gloomy, it's a good day to break out the canner and make everybody's favorite jam.
Now y'all know how much I LOVE me some **Madagascar vanilla beans so when I experimented and added WAY too much, it turned out to be a deliciously happy little accident, so if ya got it, I encourage you to use it. If not though, totally okay. It's still a solid recipe that will elevate you to superhero level once everybody tastes it. Promise.
The first thing I'm gonna do is dump all these strawberries into a big pot, add some water and cook them down until they're soft and falling apart. Then I'm gonna hit it with my stick blender and blend until smooth.
Once it's cooled down, I'll transfer it to a big ole bowl, use what I need, then either freeze the rest or make a compote.
Ready to get down to bidniz?
Here we go!
Here's the recipe:
5 cups strawberry puree
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup vanilla extract and caviar from 4 squeezed out vanilla beans OR 2 tbsp vanilla paste (optional)
1 yellow box Sure Jell fruit pectin powder
7 cups of sugar
Scant 1/8 tsp coconut oil
Nice size pinch of salt
Here's whatcha do:
• In a large cooking pot, start heating up the strawberry puree, vanilla, salt and lemon juice.
• In a small bowl blend together half a cup of sugar and the Sure Jell powder, then pour it into the strawberries and stir it constantly to dissolve.
• Bring this to a rolling boil for one full minute.
• Then add the rest of the sugar, all at once, and stir everything together.
• Bring this to a boil, stirring constantly, for two minutes, then turn off the heat and let it rest while you set your jars up. (5 pints or 9 half pints)
• THERE WILL BE FOAM!! Stupid foam. I hate that stuff. This is where the coconut oil enters the room. Add it to your pot and mix it in. It may help. Maybe. Regardless, you'll want to skim off that scuzzy nonsense. Call it ridiculously bad names and expand your vocabulary.
• Pour the jam into your jars, leaving a quarter inch of headspace. Add lids and rings and fingertip tighten.
• Add to water bath canner and process for 20 minutes.
• Cut the heat, remove the canner lid and let the jars calm down for a good 5 minutes before removing them.
• Set the jars sweetly on a towel and let them rest 24 hours. Then check your seals, label em up and stow them away for year long deliciousness.
**I almost exclusively use Madagascar vanilla beans because they have a smoother, creamier and more buttery profile than some other species of planifola which is what I prefer in my baking and preserving. There is tons of other species out there though, so don't be afraid to experiment and find your favorite!!