Christmas Jam (Canned or Freezer)
Christmas Jam is a jewel-red cranberry strawberry jam with a little orange zest and warm spices. It cooks on the stovetop in about 12 minutes, and you can can it for the pantry, keep it in the fridge or freeze it. It’s perfect for holiday breakfasts and homemade gifts!
Servings: 3 cups
Calories: 1cup
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) container fresh strawberries or 2 cups chopped fresh or frozen (thawed) strawberries
- 1 (12 ounce) package fresh or frozen cranberries (3 cups) (thawed if frozen)
- 1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered Sure Jell Original pectin
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ teaspoons orange zest
- ¾ teaspoon apple pie spice* See SUBSTITUTIONS on how to make your own
- 4 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
For Freezer Jam:
- Wash 6 or 7 half pint or 3 pint jars and the lids and screw-on bands with soapy water. (One time I got a little over 3 cups yield.)
For canning:
- Wash the jars, lids, and rings. Fill a large stockpot or canner pot up with water and bring to a boil. Place a canning rack or small round metal cooling rack in the bottom. Boil the jars for 10 minutes to sterilize them. Turn them upside down on a clean towel while you make the jam.
Prep the Jam:
- Wash the strawberries and remove the green hulls. Pulse them in a food processor or chop them. Add the strawberries to an 8 quart Dutch oven or heavy bottom pan.
- Pulse the cranberries in the food processor to chop them.Tip: You can also chop the strawberries and cranberries with a chef’s knife on a cutting board or pulse in a blender.
- Add the cranberries to the pan along with the strawberries and stir in the pectin, water, orange zest. Stir well. Cook over medium to medium-low heat, stirring often, until mixture comes to a boil. It will be thick. It needs this slow cooking to cook down the cranberries and release their natural pectin.
- Meanwhile, bring your large pot of water back up to a boil to process the jars for canning.
- Add the sugar and apple pie spice (or spices) to the cranberry mixture and stir well. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the mixture back up to a rolling boil (can't stir down) and boil, stirring occasionally, and boil for 1 minute.
- Remove the cranberry mixture from the heat and skim off any foam that may appear. Sometimes, I’ll skim off the cranberry seeds that rise to the top.
- Fill jars with hot jelly mixture. Wipe rims of jars clean. Seal lids with screw on jar rings.
For Refrigerator or Freezer Jelly
- Let stand 24 hours to cool and completely set up. The jam is ready to eat as soon as it sets up. Store in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks or in the freezer up to 1 year.
- Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight, not on the countertop, after freezing.
For Shelf Stable Jelly (Water Bath Canning Method)
- Note: You can do this process in batches with a smaller canning pot for boiling water. Just be sure it is deep enough to cover the jars by 1 inch.
- Place a canning rack or small round cookie cooling rack in the bottom of the very large pot. Bring the water up to a boil while the jam is cooking. Lower the filled jars slowly into the boiling water with a canning jar lifter. They grip the jars much better than regular tongs.
- There should be 1 inch of water above the jars.
- Tip: Place the lid on the pot to bring it back to a boil faster. Once boiling, set a timer for 10 minutes for half pint and pint jars.
- Remove the jars carefully with a canning jar lifter. They grip the jars much better than regular tongs. Place jars on a kitchen towel to cool and set up completely.
- You will know the jars have sealed when you hear a distinct pop and the lid is flat, not raised on top. Wait at least 24 hours up to 2 days for the jam to completely set.
- Yield: about 3 cups
Notes
To cook in the slow cooker:
Cranberry Strawberry Jam made in the slow cooker will be slightly less thick because it only uses the natural pectin in cranberries to thicken it and leaves out the Sure Jell.
- Literally dump everything in a 6 to 8 quart Crockpot except for the Sure Jell pectin and only add 3 cups of the sugar, stirring well. NOTE: If you don’t start with chopped strawberries and cranberries, you will need to use an immersion blender or transfer to a blender or food processor after cooking.
- Cook on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours or LOW for 7 to 8 hours. If possible, after 1 hour, quickly open the lid and stir the mixture to help incorporate the sugar and dissolve. No worries if you are at work and can’t do this step.
- Use an immersion blender, if you have one, to blend the mixture just until you don’t see any chunks of . Do not over mix. If your jam is too thin, turn the slow cooker on HIGH and cook with the lid off, stirring often, until desired thickness. Keep in mind, it will thicken as it cools.
- Pectin: Use Sure-Jell Original (pink box), not the low- or no-sugar kind. The 4 cups of sugar is what helps this pectin set, so don’t reduce it.
- Liquid pectin: You can use 1 pouch of Certo liquid pectin instead. Add it after the sugar comes to a full rolling boil, following the timing on the package.
- Frozen fruit: Thaw frozen strawberries and cranberries before cooking, and keep any juices in the pot.
- Homemade apple pie spice: For ¾ teaspoon, mix ½ teaspoon cinnamon with ⅛ teaspoon each of nutmeg, ginger and allspice (or cloves). Pumpkin pie spice works too.
- Setting time: The jam keeps thickening as it cools. Allow 24 to 48 hours for it to fully set.
- Altitude: The 10-minute water bath is for elevations up to 1,000 feet. Add 1 minute for each additional 1,000 feet.
- Doubling: For gift giving, make two separate batches rather than one double batch so it sets reliably.
- Storage: Keeps up to 3 weeks refrigerated or up to 1 year frozen; thaw overnight in the fridge. Sealed canned jars keep up to 1 year in a cool, dark pantry; refrigerate after opening.
