This is a recipe that comes from necessity. I had a bunch of strawberries that were turning and I needed to do something with them. Larry suggested that I turn them into jam. I pulled out my Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and found a recipe for strawberry jam. It has a variation that suggested using vanilla bean. Luckily I had some vanilla beans around so I decided this would make a lovely addition. As I began to get everything together I realized that I was almost out of sugar. I couldn’t find anything in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving talking about substitutes for sugar, at least nothing I was OK with. So I did a quick search on line to see if you could use brown sugar in jam. I had plenty of that on hand. I found a recipe that mentioned using brown sugar with blueberries so I figured I’d give it a go and that is how I came up with this recipe.
Print Strawberry Vanilla Brown Sugar Jam Recipe Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 45 mins Serves: 7 jars Ingredients- 7 cups of washed, hulled and mashed strawberries
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 cups brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons or 1 package pectin
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 vanilla bean, split
- Prepare your water canner or large pot filled with water and brought to a boil.
- Warm your canning jar.
- Have your lids and rings ready.
- Have your canning funnel ready.
- In an large pot add the strawberries and pectin, mix, add vanilla bean and bring to a boil.
- Add sugars all at once, add butter and return to a boil.
- Once the mixture reaches a boil that can not be stirred down cook for 1 minute longer.
- Quickly fill jars, screw on tops and process in water bath for 10 minutes or per your canners instructions.
This makes the perfect jam for fresh bread, is delicious over vanilla ice cream and it makes every peanut butter and jelly sandwich special. My boys love it and ask for it on their toast for breakfast. It is also perfect as a gift.
