Turn those fresh spring strawberries into Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Jam with this easy and delicious recipe! This strawberry vanilla jam can top everything from your morning waffles to ice cream sundaes!
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Knowing that our raspberry and blackberry bushes would soon be bursting with fruit, I decided to take a jam making class at Savory Spice Shop last week hosted by Jenny from Charlie Thyme. She made a delicious strawberry vanilla jam that we got to sample after it was prepared.
Since making this strawberry vanilla jam recipe at home, I've only heard good things from everyone who's been lucky enough to try it! I'm not even much of a sweet eater first thing in the morning. But I must admit that I've been topping waffles and French toast with this jam for breakfast! It's that good!
Strawberry season is just about over here in New Jersey. So if you still have quite a good haul from berry picking, or just bought a few too many containers during the last sale, this strawberry vanilla jam is a delicious way to use up all of those berries!
Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Jam
This homemade jam is made with just four ingredients - fresh strawberries, vanilla beans, sugar, and lemon. It'll make a delicious addition to your summertime recipes or a great homemade gift, too!
The first thing we need to do is clean our strawberries. Add the strawberries to a large bowl and cover with 3 cups of water and 1 cup of white vinegar. Soak the strawberries for 5 minutes. Then, drain and rinse with cold water. Set the berries on a towel to dry.
Once the berries are cleaned, hull and chop them. Then, toss them with 1 cup of sugar, the vanilla bean seeds and pods, and place into a large bowl. Cover and let them sit in the fridge 30 minutes to overnight to macerate.
When you're ready to make the jam, add the strawberries to a large pot and add the last cup of sugar. Then, bring the pot to a boil and stir frequently.
You'll see the strawberries start to lose their shape and soften. Then, the mixture should begin to thicken. Once the strawberries start to thicken, remove the vanilla bean pods and add the lemon juice and zest.
You want the jam to reach a temperature of 220 degrees F. Then, you can remove it from the stove and pour or spoon it into clean and dry jars.
Allow the jars to cool before storing in the fridge. Homemade jams are good for about a month in the fridge after opening.
Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Jam
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. fresh strawberries cleaned, hulled, and chopped
- 2 cups sugar divided
- 2 Madagascar vanilla beans split and scraped
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
Instructions
- Add the strawberries to a large container. Toss with with one cup of sugar, vanilla beans (seeds and pods) and cover. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (overnight is best) to macerate.
- Add the strawberries to a large pot, plus the last cup of sugar.
- Bring strawberries to a boil, stirring frequently. You will begin to see strawberries lose their shape and mixture thicken.
- Remove the vanilla pods from the pot. Then, stir in the lemon juice and zest.
- Once the jam has reached a temperature of 220ºF, remove pot from heat and pour jam into clean, dry jars.
- Store the jam in the fridge up to a month.
We celebrated my husband's birthday this past weekend. He didn't want a birthday cake for dessert, so we made waffle sundaes instead. I put out a jar of this jam and a bowl of fresh berries from our garden to dress our sundaes. They were dangerously delicious!
I'll be using this recipe throughout the summer to make fresh berry jam as our backyard blackberries, raspberries and blueberries continue to grow and flourish!
Did you make this Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Jam recipe? Share it on social media using the hashtag #holokahome. Don’t forget to tag me @holokahome!
