Last week I could barely move my right arm because of a shoulder injury. I had these anemic California strawberries and limp rhubarb that just had to be used or I was going to have to compost them. That is when I remembered that you can make jam in the breadmaker! I figured all I had to do was throw everything into the loaf pan and turn it on and be done with it.
Nope! Turns out all jam recipes require a little elbow grease. Using my left arm I mashed half the strawberries with 1/3 cup of the sugar. Painful but doable. I had less rhubarb than I was supposed to and evened it out by adding more strawberries than the recipe called for.
This is why you need to mash them, the berries release all of this natural pectin.
I added the chopped rhubarb, the rest of the strawberries, brown sugar (fascinating!), a small box of pectin and the rest of the granulated sugar. I stirred it up and put it in the breadmaker loaf pan. Then I selected the “preserves” setting and hit the start button.
Around an hour and a half later, I had a fabulous dark, rich and stunning strawberry rhubarb jam. I was going to jar it and sterilized a jar but…
I did not have enough! In order to really preserve a jar of jam it has to come to the stop and my pickle jars were just too darn big!!!
I am officially getting closer to truly preserving food but am not quite there yet. I will divide the jam up into containers and freeze them so I will have this rich but summery jam during the dark heart of winter.
This jam was perfect on my Maritime Brown Bread
Rhubarb must be cooked and cooked well so the breadmaker was the perfect way to make this jam. The strawberries themselves did not have a ton of flavour but by cooking everything together slow and steady in the breadmaker, all their flavours were slowly melded. Rich, dark and luscious, I am absolutely thrilled that once again my breadmaker makes my life so much easier and so delicious.
Making jam in a breadmaker? Who knew?
That’s ingenious!
I am thrilled to find this; I’ve always wondered about making jam in my bread machine; was ofen tempted, but chickened out. Thank you for sharing.
I don’t think my bread maker has a Preserves setting; had no idea you could do this!
You need a new-er breadmaker with a preserves setting but yes, most of them do make jams now, isn’t that amazing??!!!
Oh yum,I love jam. I never even knew newer bread makers could make jams or preserves.The great updates in inventions we have today :).Now I crave strawberry jam, I have to one day make homemade jams
That is one impressive breadmaker, you get the fabulous bread and it even makes the fabulous spread to put on the bread. The jam is so ruby red and delicious looking, truly a success!
The combination of rhubarb and strawberry is genius initself. Its definitely my favourite mix. And now to know i can make htis in my bread maker…. Hmmmmmmm! How lovely. My husband is goin to love me even more now! Its his favourite! Thanks for the poost!
I’ve never heard of doing jam in a breadmaker!! I’m going to have to give it a try. I don’t like rhubarb though, so will have to find a different combo. (I’ve really tried to like it, but I just don’t. Same goes with beets!)
Yes, the newer breadmakers have a preserves setting, isn’t that amazing? You can just add extra strawberries and skip the rhubarb, no problem. I would add some lime or lemon juice at the end so you have a balance of the sweet and tart.
I’m also newer to this food preserving stuff but I have an idea my grandma used for canning and would work just the same for preserving your tasty jams for years without worry of freezer burn. just store in your cupboard. just pour a layer of gulf wax over the top of the jam it will separate as it cools and form a perfect seal keeping bacteria out and flavor in. also a tip if you have runny jam. Just add a tbsp of corn starch to every pint of jam in your bread maker on top with the dry ingredients. so 4 cups of fruit makes me two jars so i added 2 tbsp of cs to the sure jell. hope this helps with your success journey… keep up the good work. Love you Gramma R.I.P.