And you can, too!  Because it´s easy!

I have made strawberry jam before (a long time ago), but that time I didn´t can it and I used pectin.  This time I didn´t use pectin and I canned it.      

Step one:  Find a recipe.  I followed this recipe and this recipe, and kind of did a combination of both.

All it takes is lots of strawberries, a couple lemons, some sugar, and a prayer.

Cut all of your fruit.

Add your lemon zest and lemon juice and sugar to a pot, heat it, and stir.

The lemon zest in the above picture is so big because we don´t have a zester…so I used a cheese grater because I´m thrifty.  Or dumb.

When you have a sugary-lemon syrup, add the straberries and stir often.

Keep stirring… At one point, I stopped and smashed the berries with a handheld processor.

Once it starts to boil, allow it to boil for at least 10 minutes.  It won´t really bubble, but it will foam.

In the meantime, sterilize your mason jars.  First I washed them with hot water and soap, then I shook them dry, then I put them in the oven to dry out.  With the lids, I put them in boiling water for a few minutes.  Once they are clean, don´t touch the inside of them.

After, pour your jam into the jars, screw the lid on tight and flip the jars upside down so that everything is sealed.  Then for good measure, I put the whole jars in boiling water to try to seal it more…but I don´t really know what I am doing.  I have three large jars of homemade strawberry jam…which will never get eaten….but it was fun to make!  You can see it hiding in there.