Jalapeno Strawberry Jam

As with all my posts, there is always an inspiration: This time it was a friend who had a box of jalapenos and nothing to make with them.  I took home nearly the whole box after a few other friends had grabbed enough to make some salsa or maybe stuff them, as they were very large.

Me? I'm on my second batch of this jam and have already used the jalapenos to make two batches of pepper jelly.

I started with another persons recipe, and credit should be given where credit is due.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jalapeno-strawberry-jam/

I started with
4 cups diced fresh strawberries, but I've used frozen as well
1 cup diced jalapeno (I used a food processor)
1/4 cup lime juice ( I used the fake stuff today, but fresh is best)
1 package pectin
7 yes SEVEN cups of sugar

I first added the strawberries, jalapenos and lime juice to the cooking pot.

I let them cook down, I wanted to see the strawberries begin to break down, but I did this on a low heat.

Then I added the pectin and looked for the first signs of boil, it can be hard to see but the strawberries produced some juice while cooking down.


Then I added the seven (7)  cups of sugar all at once, and stirred it in.

From this point we are looking for a boil that will not stir down.  When you stir the pot, the boil should continue as if your spoon had never been there.  From this point we time it for one minute, continuing to stir, and then shut if off.

 - I had every intention of giving you several more pictures here, however my cell phone dropped right into the pot of boiling jam - not to worry I pulled it out and got it cleaned up after the jam was finished - It seems to still be working okay -

Now we are ready to can it.  Remember to always have clean and warm jars before adding boiling jam to them.  This batch made 6 of the 8oz jars.

Proceed on to your canning process. You can read the directions that came with your equipment or find some in a number of locations online.  Be sure not to process a strawberry jam for longer than they ask, the jam turns brown and is not appetizing at all.