My Mom’s Strawberry Jelly

I grew up calling jam – jelly.  It’s ingrained in me.  My mom’s jam was always jelly – delicious sweet, strawberry jelly.  Now I realize that jelly is supposed to be clear – it’s the juice of the fruit- not the fruit – guess what?  I’m still calling it jelly.
This fruit spread is shockingly simple.  Smash the strawberries, add sugar, add pectin, wait, pour into clean jars.  Yes… that’s it folks.  This is not one of those recipes you need to cook until a certain temperature or put in the canner for 3.23 minutes.  You smash, stir, wait and pour.  Rumor has it that this jam/jelly/goodness is even better when you wait until the berries are in season.  I didn’t… I found some super ripe red berries on sale at the store and went to town with the smashing.  Guess I’ll have to make another batch this summer and see if it’s as good…  It’s such a tricky recipe – not sure I’ll get it right – but I’ll sure give it a try.

Strawberry Freezer Jam
What you need!
2 cups of crushed strawberries (about 2 1-lb containers)
4 cups sugar
1, 3-oz pouch Ball RealFruit Liquid Pectin
2 Tbsp lemon juice
4 Ball Plastic (8 oz) Freezer Jars or 8 oz half pint glass jars with lids and bands

Make it!
Combine prepared fruit* with sugar in a large bowl, mixing thoroughly. Let stand 10 minutes.
Add entire contents of Ball RealFruit Liquid Pectin pouch and lemon juice. Stir for 3 minutes.
Ladle freezer jam into clean Ball freezer jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Apply caps and let jam stand in refrigerator until set, but no longer than 24 hours. Serve immediately, refrigerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year.

Makes about 4 (8 oz) half pints
*To Prepare Strawberries: Hull and crush one layer at a time using a potato masher.