The Diary of a Displaced Housewife is now Life In Fuchsia…


'The Diary of the Displaced Housewife' is now 'Life in Fuschia'

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Strawberry Jam with Cracked Black Pepper


My only experience with making jam at home has been lazily watching my mom doing it. I love the jewel colors of gorgeous jams and the clean flavors of pure ingredients. When I make something at home, I know there are no dubious flavors or ingredients I cannot recognize…its just pure goodness. I love that summer brings with it so many choices of plump juicy fruit waiting to be made into jams, juices, pies or what ever you choose to do with them. So when I hit the jackpot with plenty of magnificent ruby colored strawberries at the farmers market last weekend, my first thought was Jam! So here I chronicle my virgin voyage into the world of jam making….


Strawberry Jam with Cracked Black Pepper

What you need:
4 cups Strawberries, washed, cored and quartered
2 cups Sugar
1 to 1 ½ tsp Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1 Lemon juiced

Getting down to business:
In a large heavy bottomed pan, add in the strawberries, sugar and lemon. Stir well and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once it boils, reduce the heat and let the mixture simmer uncovered.  (Turn the heat down to medium low). Add in the cracked pepper. Keep stirring occasionally and remove any foam or froth that floats to the top periodically.
Let the mixture reduce to half its volume and has thickened.
You can cool the jam and serve it immediately or pour into clean sterilized bottles and store in a cool place.

Notes:
The original recipe calls for three cups of sugar but I cut it down to two cups. I feel I could cut it down some more.
Since the recipe made two small bottles of jam, which has been moving quite fast, I prepped the bottles by running them through the dishwasher and heating them right through. I also set them out in the sun to ensure they were dry and heated through.
Don’t make the pepper too fine, as it would add too much heat to the jam. Keep it coarse.

Adapted from The White Barn Inn Cookbook

29 comments:

  1. Dear, that pic is such a mouth watering one. Looks wonderful !!!

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  2. wow That peppery strawberry jam sounds fantastic!

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  3. The peppery strawberry jam sounds lovely!

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  4. wat a drollworthy recipe...luks very tempting!

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  5. thats so dleiicous . me too like the jewel colors .color and taste ...homemade jams taste so tastier and also the cracked peppers thats a good idea..

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  6. ooh i love it!!! i've been wanting to experiment more with pepper in desserts, but i'm always too timid to put it into an entire batch of ice cream or cake and risk it going to waste. this sounds absolutely divine, and worth the risk!!!

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  7. OOO how interesting, I love spicy and sweet -- this looks wonderful :)

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  8. I am also a jam newbie so I totally appreciate the tutorial. And the addition of black pepper may be genius! I snagged a sample of cranberry/orange/pepper jam at the grocery store today and it was awesome so I imagine this is as well :)

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  9. Lovely! I bet the addition of the ground pepper just brings it to a new level. Love the savory and sweet combination.

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  10. Oh, wow! It's so nice to see something different in a jam recipe... sweet is great, but can be so flat!

    -- Lauren, Lauren's Little Kitchen

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  11. Wow, thanks for this. I've been wanting to try to make my own jam lately. Love the addition of the black pepper. Thanks!

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  12. This sounds perfect! I love to spice-up EVERYTHING so this is right up my alley!

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  13. Nice and spicy! I love this idea. Black pepper always brings out great flavors.

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  14. I love the addition of black pepper in this sweetness.

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  15. Oh boy - I love strawberries with black pepper so this sounds brilliant to me! I also hate how store bought jams are usually so sweet they could rot your teeth on contact. Ugh!

    I really have to try this. Good thing strawberries are everywhere right now!

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  16. this really looks soo gorgeous! I still havent gotten the courage to make nay kind of preserves - there are soo many strawberries in the farmers markets that I may make a batch soon.

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  17. So interesting that it uses cracked black pepper, but it looks beautiful! Lovely recipe!

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  18. Thanks for writing to me, since I could discover your blog !!! I'm having breakfast now...I wish I had your gorgeous jam...
    I loved the words in your "about" !!!!

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  19. How funny! I have a container of strawberries from our CSA that I need to use and I've been trying to figure out what to do with them. Jam wouldn't be a bad thing to make since I just got a bunch of jars. Thanks for the inspiration! ;-)

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  20. Congrats on the jam. It looks heavenly (and strawberry is my favorite!). Be careful of reducing the sugar too much since it's one of the things that thickens the strawberries to jam consistency. If you reduce it too much, you'll have strawberry syrup instead. :)

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  21. Wow...that is interesting, jam with black pepper...must be yummy. It look luscious.

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  22. I have been thinking about making my own jam as well, glad to see it was a success for you!

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  23. I know there are many strawberries in the market! what a great way to use strawberries. Peppery strawberry jam sounds good to me!

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  24. What a great idea, Strawberry Jam with Cracked Black Pepper, ooohhhhh, it's like I can taste it now just by looking at your picture.

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  25. Hi everyone! Thank you so much for dropping by! Your support means so much to me... :)

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  26. I have never tasted this before but something about strawberries and black pepper makes me think it would be awesome..
    thanks for dropping by my blog..u have a nice lil spac ehere

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  27. Sounds great :) i love the combination of black pepper and strawberries!

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  28. @ An Open Book - Thank you for coming by too! I love the combination of sweet with an unexpected hit of heat.. quite tasty!

    @ Sanjana - Hi Sanjana! Thanks! I hope you get to try out the jam!

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