Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam

 I have two little kids, which mean our peanut butter and jelly consumption is pretty high.  One day I might attempt to make my own peanut butter, but for now I'm sticking with the easy stuff.

Homemade Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam
You Will Need:
2 pounds (~6½ cups smooshed) rinsed off, patted dry, and hulled really sweet strawberries
¼ cup honey
3 teaspoons lemon zest
¼ cup  freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:
Place the strawberries in a large pot and smoosh with the bottom of a glass. Add the honey, lemon zest and lemon juice and heat over medium high.  Boil, stirring every now and then, until the mixture thickens. With my really soft and juicy strawberries, this took about 45 minutes. It could take more or less time depending on your strawberries. To test, put some of the jam on a clean spoon and then put the spoon on a plate in the freezer. Let it sit in there for five minutes and then take it out. If the jam doesn’t fall easily off the spoon when you turn it to the side, it’s ready and you can take the pot off the heat. If it does pour off easily, continue cooking for another 5 minutes and try the test again. Let cool and then pour into jars and store in the fridge and for up 1 week.

 Because I'm lazy, I bought frozen berries so I wouldn't have to wash and hull them.  When they thawed they were pretty mushy which made the cooking time faster.  It was about 30 minutes until the jam was thick enough.

 I halved the recipe and ended up with just about a cup of jam

 The Verdict: It tasted nothing like store bought strawberry jam, which was a plus in my opinion.  It was very fresh and sweet.  I could see it being a little more tart depending on the strawberries you have, but you might be able to add more honey to counter that. 

My kids didn't like it, but I think that's because it was something new, and apparently it's a sin to ask a picky eater to switch their jam.  It could also have been the texture that bothered them.  It had more strawberry chunks then regular jam.

The one draw back to this is probably the time and effort.  You do have to sort of baby it, and because it's fresh it won't have a long shelf life. But to me the time is worth it.  I finished off that cup by myself in a week, and I'm not a big jam person.