52 Homesteading Skills in One Year: Project #23: Learning to make chocolate mint strawberry freezer jam

When you’re short on time and you just happen upon quarts and quarts of local strawberries on sale for a ridiculous price, freezer jam is your answer.

Or when your two children decide they want to “help” you make jam and you’re starting to lose your patience, freezer jam comes to the rescue!

Freezer jam is a little easier and quicker to make than water bath canning so when you need to make jam fast – think freezer jam.

I wanted to experiment and make something a little different so I added chocolate mint from my garden. But you can omit the mint if you just want plain and simple strawberry jam.

Chocolate Mint Strawberry Freezer Jam 

Ingredients
6 lbs hulled and sliced strawberries (minus a few that I ate)
1 1/2 cups honey
3 cups shredded Granny Smith apples, with skins (Important: If you like a thick jam, use store bought pectin instead of apples. I wanted to try using a natural thickener and although it works, the end result is definitely runnier.)
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
1.5 tbsp finely chopped chocolate mint

Step 1
Mash the strawberries and combine with apples and lemon juice in a large pot. Bring to a boil.

Step 2
Reduce heat and stir in honey and very finely chopped mint. Simmer for about 30 minutes until the jam has thickened.

Warning: This recipe does not become as thick as typical store-bought jam made with pectin. See my note above in the ingredients list.

Step 3
Allow it to cool and then ladle into freezer safe containers leaving about an inch of head space at the top of your jar. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Enjoy!