The easiest strawberry quick jam

A cup of fancy strawberry jam can easily cost about $9 or more. But you can make three times as much for that price and use three simple tricks to create an intensely strawberry spread.

Trick No. 1: Use fruit at peak ripeness, whether fresh or frozen.

Trick No. 2: Roast the berries to concentrate their flavor.

Trick No. 3: Add freeze-dried strawberries for an extra punch of berry flavor.

The result is a jam that tastes deeply of strawberries: bright, sweet and fruity enough to make store-bought versions seem muted by comparison.

How to make strawberry jam

Making strawberry jam at home doesn’t require special equipment, pectin or hours of work.

Instead of cooking berries from raw on the stovetop, this recipe starts by roasting them in the oven. Roasting evaporates excess water while concentrating sugars and flavor.

After a brief simmer on the stove, pulverized freeze-dried strawberries are stirred in. Because freeze-dried berries contain almost no moisture, they add concentrated strawberry flavor without thinning the jam.

This recipe comes together in about 45 minutes.

Fresh vs. frozen strawberries

Fresh strawberries are an excellent choice while they’re in season, especially when prices drop during peak harvest. But frozen strawberries are my go-to. Because they’re typically picked and processed at peak ripeness, frozen berries offer remarkably consistent and deep berry flavor no matter the season.

For jam, where texture isn’t important, either option works well.

Fresh strawberries may be the better value right now, but this recipe can be made year-round with frozen berries when fresh fruit becomes expensive or a bit of a let-down flavor-wise.

Why roasting strawberries makes better jam

Traditional jam recipes rely on long stovetop cooking to evaporate water and concentrate flavor.

Roasting gets a head start on that process. As the berries roast, their juices reduce and become syrupy. Some of the natural sugars caramelize around the edges of the pan, creating deeper flavor while preserving the bright fruitiness that makes strawberry jam so appealing. The result is a richer-tasting jam with less cooking time.

The secret ingredient for the most flavorful strawberry jam

Sometimes, homemade strawberry jam can be disappointingly bland. Blame the strawberries that are often picked unripe, and loads of water in the final product that dilutes flavor.

To help it taste like the most-strawberry strawberry jam, use freeze-dried strawberries. Removing water concentrates the fruit’s flavor. When the berries are pulverized into a powder and stirred into the jam at the end of cooking, they amplify both color and aroma. Think of it as the strawberry equivalent of adding tomato paste to a sauce. It’s a simple ingredient that makes a dramatic difference.

Is homemade strawberry jam cheaper than store-bought?

A premium strawberry jam can go for about $9 a cup. Using current prices at my local Atlanta Kroger:

• Fresh strawberries: $3.99
• Freeze-dried strawberries: $3.99
• Lemon: $0.85
• Sugar: approximately $0.50

This recipe costs about $9.33 and yields about 3 cups of jam. I’d rather spend $3.11 for a cup of homemade jam than pay $9 for the fancy kind.

Easy Strawberry Jam

2 pounds fresh or frozen strawberries

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 ounce freeze-dried strawberries, ground into a powder

• Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• If using fresh strawberries, clean, hull and halve them. Then spread the strawberries (fresh or frozen) on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the sugar. Toss to coat.
• Roast until the berries soften and the juices become syrupy, 30-35 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
• Transfer the berries and all the juices to a large saucepan. Stir in the lemon juice and salt.
• Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Use a potato masher to break up the berries to your desired consistency. Cook until slightly thickened, 10-15 minutes.
• Stir in the freeze-dried strawberry powder and cook for 1-2 minutes more.
• Remove from the heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to clean jars and cool completely. The jam will thicken as it cools.
• Store refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.