Strawberry Freezer Jam

Pump pump da jam.

Strawberries were on sale for 98 cents a pound, so I bought lots and lots, planning to make some preserves. I got a little intimidated by actual canning and I was totally put off by the 5 1/2 cups of sugar called for in the jam recipes. Really? Why bother with fresh fruit at all!?
Instead I made freezer jam which doesn't require so much sugar, or any kind of canning magic. No exploding jars or accidentally poisoning my friends and family.

Here's my recipe:

3 pounds of ripe strawberries

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 lemon (juice and rind)

1/3 cup fruit pectin

 First wash all the strawberries really well and pat them dry.

 Cut out the hulls and put them all in a big pot. Like, the pot you make mashed potatoes in. Add the rind and the juice from one nice ripe lemon.
Then smoosh it. Smoosh it good.

 Die strawberries, die!

Cook the strawberry and lemon juice mush over medium or low heat until it boils. I let mine boil for about 5 minutes to cook down some of the water from the berries. After that, I sifted together the sugar and the pectin and added that to the strawberry lava.

 Boil all of it together for another five minutes or so. Transfer to very clean half pint jars and screw on new lids and bands. You want to use the smaller jars because once you bring your jam out of the freezer it will only last a couple of weeks in the fridge, and how much jam can you really go through in that time?
So, let the sealed jars rest for a few hours until they come to room temperature and the jam has set. Then put 'em all in the freezer. You're good to go! If somebody comes to my house with too much peanut butter and a loaf of bread, I've got it handled.
This recipe yielded 7 half pint jars. I used the pretty faceted ones, but any non-shouldered jar would work. Yum.