Homemade Strawberry Jam–YUM!

For us in the West, strawberries from California keep coming in well into the fall. This week, they were 98 cents a quart, which is hard to pass up. After we ate several quarts fresh, we decided to make a simple refrigerator jam with the rest before they spoiled.

We cleaned and hulled two quarts of strawberries and cut them in quarters. We placed them in a saucepan (not aluminum) with 3 T. of sugar.  When it got to a boil over medium high heat, we turned it down to low and used a potato masher to mash up the strawberries. We’re fans of less chunks, so we mashed pretty thoroughly.  Mash less if you like more of a preserves, and food process if you want more “jelly” consistency.  We then added a fourth T. of sugar due -- it will depend on the sweetness of the strawberries.

We then turned off the heat, let it cool and then added in 4 t. of balsamic vinegar.  We placed it in jelly jars and put it in the fridge.  This jam will go great on toast, hard rolls, bruschetta with thin slivers of Parmesan or even a glaze over a grilled chicken breast.