Make marmalade or jam at home is a very simple procedure and can give us the possibility of having an absolutely natural product, without preservatives and with excellent quality. Depending on whether we want more or less thick jams can resort to artificial use of pectin; I like to make jams hundred percent natural with brown sugar and using pectin can be obtained from the same or other fruits.

Pectin is a natural fiber found in plants, seeds and fruit skins. To gel requires the presence of water and a fruit acid. There are some fruits that are high in pectin, such as quinces and apples (not too ripe), and other very low, like strawberries. So the addition of pectin depends on the type of fruit and the result we want to obtain.

Besides serving to thicken jams with less sugar, pectin helps us to reduce the cooking time and this will result in keeping the natural flavor of the fruit.

As the strawberry is a fruit with very low pectin content, if we use a small amount of sugar we have to add pectin in some way. Not to resort to artificial pectin, in this case I add apples with the strawberries and lemon seeds. Lemon is a fruit in its peel and seeds have lots of pectin. There are several methods of obtaining pectin from citrus and apples, but using seeds is a simple and effective method in small amounts.

So, this is my recipe for strawberry jam, and we will need the following

Ingredients

1 kg of strawberries

1 apple

400g of blonde or brown sugar

lemon seeds

Juice of half lemon

Gauze and thread

Preparation

Wash the strawberries with his cape. We removed the ends, put them in a pot and add sugar. We let marinate for 6 to 7 hours.

In a gauze we put a few seeds of  lemon, tied with string and turn tie the bundle on the handle of the pot where we have the macerated strawberries. We add the grated apple or cut into cubes.

We carry the pot to boil until desired consistency. The way to prove the point jam is watching the «lapping» bucket, that is, that taking the spoon after stirring the preparation pass a finger in the middle of the spoon and no longer sweet rejoins. Another is withdrawing some preparation, put it on a plate, take a few minutes to the refrigerator and observe consistency.

Once warm we remove the seed packet. We can use it with whole fruits or mix whole or in part.

We have to save in glass jars sterilized in hot water, fill with jam still warm, cover them and bring them to the refrigerator.

Bon appetite!