Freezer Jam

The other day I was browsing through some blogs when I saw these fabric jam toppers. I thought they were so stinkin' cute and wanted to print them out right then and there. But then I remembered that I didn't have any homemade jam to put the toppers on. Hmmm.

For obvious reasons, I decided that I needed to make some jam. I'll admit, I'm not a purist when it comes to making jam. I just don't have it in me to do the whole sterilizing, cooking, steaming thingy. When I was young, my mom would make peach freezer jam, and I loved it. Freezer jam - it's so fresh and light tasting - and easy. Perfect!

My husband loves strawberry jam, and I love peach jam, so I had to make both. Luckily we have a produce junction nearby that sells fruit cheap. And even more luckily there were still tons of jars at the store. Ball makes these jars with cute silver lids now and I'm a big fan!

There is a lot of sugar in jam. Did you know that? If you didn't, you might not want to make your own so you can stay ignorant of that fact.

And now we have strawberry jam. Lots of it! I got 6 8oz jars out of one batch (I made 2 batches).

And peach jam! I got 8 8oz jars out of one batch.

Sure Jell Freezer Jam

2 cups crushed strawberries, a little over a pint (3 cups crushed peaches, about 2 lbs, plus 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice)
4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl (4 1/2 cups sugar for peach jam)
3/4 cup water
1 box SURE.JELL Fruit Pectin

Mix crushed fruit with sugar, and let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, stir the pectin into the water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 1 minute. Stir the boiling water into the strawberries. Allow to stand for 3 minutes before pouring into jars or other storage containers.

Place tops on the containers, and leave for 24 hours. Place into freezer, and store frozen until ready to use.