No-Cook, Raw Honey Strawberry Jam

I recently bought some raw honey when we picked strawberries.  After I tasted it and realized how amazing it was, I started thinking up ways to use it.  I would definitely not be baking with it.  That would ruin the "raw" of it.  I don't usually like honey, at least not by itself.  I like to put it in my homemade bread or add some to my tea.  Since we had strawberries, I wanted to try making some honey strawberry jam.  The pectin I usually buy is a cook kind, so I did some research and found out that there is an instant pectin that requires no cooking.  This is the kind I used for this - Ball RealFruit Instant Pectin - Flex Batch.  It was super easy and I'm glad I bought four containers.  I need to buy more fruit now, yum!

First I washed the jars and rings (not the center of the lid, just the screw on ring).  I usually wash them by hand, but I just threw them in the dishwasher with the rest of our dishes.

 

 

 My dishwasher has a sterilize setting.  I went ahead and used it.  I don't think it's necessary with cooked jam and long term shelf stable canning since you put the jars in the canner and simmer them until you use them.  Since I was making no cook freezer jam, I went ahead and "sterilized" them.

 

Look at all the strawberries we picked.  These aren't as sweet as the ones we picked at Spencer Farm in Noblesville last year.  These were a different variety and are about twice as big.  Next time we go, I'll call ahead and see if we can pick in the little sweet strawberry patch.

 

 

 I needed to rinse these off.  I filled my sink half full with cold water and added about 1/2 cup of vinegar.

Look at that dirty water!

I put some rags on the counter and let them drip dry in the colander.  I don't need strawberry stains on my counters.

I took the stems and leaves off of about 2 cups of strawberries and instead of mashing them like I have in the past, I used my awesome Ninja blender that Husband got me for Christmas.  I used the pulse button a couple times and it chopped them up really nicely.  It works better for smaller batches.  When I filled it up and tried this, I had to pulse it a lot more to get all the strawberries chopped and ended up pureeing a lot of it so it was not as chunky as I like.  As long as I stayed around 7 cups or less, it worked great.  The strawberries need room to move around.  The model I have can be found here, complete with single serve blending cups.  It's currently marked down!

Nicely chopped and ready to be made into jam.

I put the strawberries in a bowl and added 1/2 cup of honey and 2 tablespoons Ball instant pectin.

 

 

Then I stirred it for 3 minutes.

I poured it into my half pint jars.

 

 

I then let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes to set up.  I turned it gently once about 12-20 minutes into it since the strawberries were all floating near the top so that the strawberries were dispersed throughout the jam.

 

 

 

I was a little concerned this wouldn't set up with honey since it's liquid and sugar isn't, but it actually set up a little thicker than the patch I made with sugar.  This also tastes so much better.  It has more depth to the flavor then the sugar sweetened one.  It was also so fast to make since I didn't need to cook the pectin.

 

No-Cook, Raw Honey Strawberry Jam

makes 2 half pint jars

1 2/3 cups mashed strawberries
2 Tbsp Ball RealFruit Instant Pectin
1/2 cup raw honey
(Do not make more than 6 jars per batch or it may not set up.)

Stir pectin into fruit slowly to avoid clumping.  Add honey.  Stir for 3 minutes.  Spoon or ladle into clean freezer jars.  Let stand at room temp for 30 minutes.  Enjoy now, will keep in fridge for about 3 weeks, or freeze for up to one year to enjoy later.

Plastic freezer jars or glass jars with straight sides are recommended.  Leave 1/2 inch headspace to allow room for expansion during freezing.

compensation disclosure