Strawberry Vanilla Jam

Total Time: 55 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 8 cups sliced strawberries
• 6 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup bottled lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 vanilla beans
• 1/2 teaspoon butter

Recipe

• 1 Place the strawberries in a large stockpot and crush them slightly with a potato masher to break them up a little and release some of their juice. Simmer the strawberries over medium low heat for 10 minutes.
• 2 Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, seeds scraped from the vanilla beans, (you may also add the vanilla bean pods if desired after you have scraped the seeds from them - just remember to take them out before you start filling your jars!) butter and sugar and stir well until sugar is dissolved.
• 3 Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat and boil hard for 20 minutes, stirring frequently (be careful, this has a tendency to spit at you and boiling sugar burns are unpleasant!), until it has reduced and thickened a bit. You may test for gel at this point if deisred.
• 4 Remove from heat and stir constantly for 3 minutes to redistribute the fruit evenly through the jam and prevent it from floating to the top of your finished product.
• 5 Ladle jam into hot half pint (8 oz.) jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes - adjusting for altitude.