This Christmas jam recipe is perfect for gift-giving! It's a sweet and tangy marriage of strawberries and cranberries. Festive and beautiful, the crimson color says, “Hello, Christmas!” It is the jam you want to use in thumbprint cookies or slathered on your piping hot rolls at Christmas dinner.
The wonderful thing about this Christmas jam recipe is that you can use fresh and frozen fruit or a combination of fresh and frozen fruit! In this case, it’s September, and fresh strawberries are expensive!
Cranberries are out of season, but you can use frozen ones you squirreled away last November! Dig some out of the deep freeze!
If you decide to make this yummy jam now, before cranberries are piled up in the produce department, you can use fresh or frozen strawberries and cranberries with equally awesome results!
We love to make jam, and when we do, we always say we’re having a “jam session” simply because it makes it sound even more fun! Read through the Christmas jam recipe instructions before you begin, and be ready to follow them. They are simple but critical to success.
Before you begin, get all your canning supplies together to avoid a mad rush to the store. Once you have started a batch, it’s almost impossible to stop. That’s my lovely canning towel. Probably a graduation gift from long ago. I keep it stashed in a handy drawer on my kitchen island, where we conduct our jam sessions!
Everything you’ll need is readily available at grocery stores, hardware stores, online, and even at Walmart. The things you’ll need are inexpensive and last a long time. And believe me, you’ll find lots of uses for jars, jar lifters, and canning funnels beyond making jam!
We like to use half-pint jars that hold about a cup of jam. Run them through the dishwasher, wash them in hot, sudsy water, and rinse them thoroughly before using them. Set the rings aside in a handy spot at your workspace. Put the flats in a container with very hot water. And now you are ready!
If you're processing your jam for long-term storage, you'll need a second stockpot deep enough to hold the jars and allow at least one inch of water over the lids. If you have hard water, add a couple of glugs of vinegar to the water to keep lime from forming on your jars. Set that on the stove now to heat.
To make this Christmas jam recipe, you'll need a twelve-ounce bag of cranberries (about three cups) and three cups of unsweetened whole frozen strawberries. Make sure the strawberries are unsweetened! I started with the strawberries in a large pot over very low heat. I wanted them to defrost so that I could mash them.
Meanwhile, measure exactly six cups of sugar into a measuring cup and set it aside. This is an important step because you must add sugar to the fruit all at once.
I started by putting the frozen strawberries in a large pot over low heat so they would defrost and allow me to mash them. Next, I added the cranberries and let them cook a bit so they would begin to pop open and release all those yummy juices.
Once that lovely mixture began to boil, I added a box of powdered pectin and a teaspoon of butter. The butter is optional, but it helps prevent foam from forming on the top of the jam.
Once the fruit mixture comes to a boil, add all the sugar and continue cooking. Yes, it is a lot of sugar. This isn’t diet food! Jam is meant to be a treat and eaten in small quantities! As the jam cooks, the mixture becomes clear, colorful, and very, very hot.
The sugar makes it boil at a temperature hotter than boiling water. I suggest you use the longest spoon you have, and I have even put a glove or an oven mitt on my stirring hand!
When it reaches a boiling point that you can not “stir down,” set a timer for exactly one minute and keep stirring. When the timer sounds, take the pot off the heat and move it to a cooling rack or a thickly folded towel like my hot pink one in the photo!
Use your canning funnel to ladle the hot mixture into the jelly jars. Leave at least one-half inch of headspace between the jam and the top of the jar. Wipe off the jar's rim with a clean, damp cloth.
Place a flat lid on the jar, then screw the lid and ring in place. Place each filled jar in the boiling water bath using your jar lifter.
For long-term storage, you must process the jars in a boiling water bath for ten minutes. Set a ten-minute timer. When it rings, use the jar lifter to remove the jars from the water bath, put them on a rack or thickly folded towel, and let them sit undisturbed until completely cool.
I love making jam and jelly! It's one of the few things we get to do where you can actually see the finished results and count each precious jar! Jams and jellies make welcome gifts that are great for those "hard-to-buy-for" people on your list!
A wonderful crimson red sweet-tart jam that's made of strawberries and cranberries. Easy enough for beginners! The color and sweet-tart flavor simply scream Christmas!!
I just made some beautiful golden Apricot Jam; everyone loves my Peach Jam. Orange marmalade is a favorite of mine, and I'll be making it again soon! Stay tuned for more fun jelly and jam recipes!
If you liked this recipe, you are my people! And if you like this recipe, please share it on your social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter! It would sure tickle me, and I would be ever so grateful!
If you haven't already, please look for me on Facebook and Pinterest, where I will share easy, delicious, family-friendly recipes every week!
Love, GB (Betty Streff)
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What a great homemade gift! I'm definitely trying this.
That tickles me to hear! You made my day! Tie a ribbon around the rim and make someone smile! 🥰
Can this same recipe be used for freezer jam rather than canning?
I have never done it, but I don't see any reason you couldn't freeze this jam after you have cooked it. I would sure let the jars cool completely before putting them in the freezer.
You may want to explore freezer jams, there's a lot of information online about them. Most of them I read do not cook the fruit at all.
I do wonder how rhubarb, uncooked, would taste as in the no-cooking freezer jam recipes I see.
If you use glass jars to freeze your jam, I would caution you not to use jars with shoulders, but instead choose straight-sided jars and allow room for the jam to expand as it freezes.
How many bottles does this make?
An exact yield on a batch of jam is not quite possible but if you'll notin=ce, there is a picture of a batch showing eight half-pints jars, and at the top of the recipe card, it states "Yield 8 half-pints' The jam can cook down a little more or a little less but this is pretty darn close!
Can you use a steam canner unstead of the water bath?
Great question and absolutely! High acid foods like jams and jellies are ideal for preserving with less weight, water and time! Thanks a bunch for answering tha question because it prompted me to research and order one! Watch for an upcoming post on the subject! Thank you!
Will the jam thicken any after canning bath? I followed directions exactly (using a scale) and my Jam seems a little loose
It should firm up. I'm always impatient, too!
Can I substitute frozen cherries for the strawberries?
Oh wow that sounds fun! Did you get my email? I think cherries will work as long as you keep the same voulume of fruit. I think it could be slightly more tart- and I would love to hear from you and have you tell me how it turns out. I just got a steam canner to use whne I make jam and I'll be looking for inspiration and new ideas for jam!
Can you give me the recipe to your lovely looking strawberry/cranberry jam in grams please
Thanks loads
I'm so sorry but I have no knowledge or experience working with grams I'm afraid. 🤨 I found this conversion tool online that I think looks pretty user friendly- I hope this helps! https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cup-to-gram-conversions/
Loved this recipe. Great directions made it easy. It made 7 half pint jars plus 2 tiny jelly jars.
You totally made my day! Thanks so much for taking time from your busy life to comment! I am thrilled that you enjoyed iy it and that it went well for you! Happy Thanksgiving!
I am excited to try this recipe. Can you make it seedless by straining the hot jam before placing into the jars?
Sorry for the delay in answering. I have never tried this. Straining molten fruit and sugar sounded scary, messy, and unsafe. The only recipe I found is from a British blogger and what she does makes sense. She blitzes the raw fruit in a food processor, strains out the seeds and proceeds to make the jam with the seedless puree. Here is that post link. Copy and paste it into your browser. https://feastgloriousfeast.com/seedless-strawberry-jam/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug.
It is a long and amusing post full of great info. Good luck!! let me know!