Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper Recipe

Between Tigress' Can Jam and the fact that I'm working on a book about the rebirth of interest in water-bath canning, it's pretty much nonstop jammin' activity around here. At time of writing, the most recent foray involved three very different takes on strawberry jam. The June Can Jam ingredient is berries, but although we're well ahead of the regular season this year, Toronto has no local raspberries or anything like that, so I didn't have much choice. (It was even a near thing with the strawberries, actually, which only recently appeared in shops.) However, I love strawberry jam so much I wish I could have tried ten recipes, frankly.

The three recipes I did manage to try (pictured left to right above) are:

1. From Toronto educator, environmentalist and urban farmer Risa Strauss, a delicious rhubarb-strawberry-pineapple jam with very little sugar, which has a pleasing brownish colour and a great, tart taste
2. A heavenly delicious strawberry jam with balsamic vinegar and black pepper by my friend Alec Stockwell, a talented jammer
3. The lipsmacking, no-fuss strawberry lemon marmalade created for the Can Jam by Audra Wolfe of Doris and Jilly Cook

Such different takes on a staple preserve! Alec's recipe called for macerating the berries, which means letting them sit in sugar overnight. This causes the fruit to lose a lot of liquid, creating a syrup in the pan, and it gives the berries a very bright colour, as in the photo above. Risa's recipe used fresh berries, and Audra's used berries frozen in sugar (you can freeze any berries this way: 4 cups of berries to ¾ cup of sugar in a freezer bag, as Audra informs me.) The frozen berries have some of the qualities of the macerated ones.

See how different the mixtures look! The one on the right is the strawberry with balsamic; the one on the left is basically half-and-half strawberries and lemons. I would hardly be able to choose between these three fabulous recipes... although I must say that Alec's balsamic concoction has a seductive richness that goes incredibly well with goat cheese. Do you doubt me? Here's the recipe: give it a try!

Alec Stockwell's Strawberry Jam with Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper

Makes 2-3 precious cups

• 4 heaping cups of strawberries
• 1½ cups of sugar
• ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar (5% acid or more)
• Not more than 1 tsp cracked peppercorns (you can use a mortar and pestle)
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice

Day One

1. Wash, then hull the strawberries. If small, leave whole. If large, cut in half.
2. In a non-reactive bowl, combine berries, sugar and lemon juice. Cover with cloth and allow to macerate about 24 hours.

Day Two

1. Sterilize jars.
2. In a non-reactive pot, bring berry mixture to a boil.
3. Remove strawberries and continue to boil the liquid until it begins to thicken. Then return the strawberries to the pot and cook at a rolling boil, stirring frequently and skimming off foam, until it reaches the setting point. (The berries will still be holding their shape at this point.)
4. Add vinegar and pepper to taste; a full teaspoon will make quite a hot flavour; even ¼ teaspoon will give a good hint of pepper.
5. Let the jam rest on a low heat briefly and test to be certain you have reached the setting point, but be careful not to burn the jam.
6. Ladle into sterilized jars, seal and process for 10 minutes at a rolling boil (15 minutes for pint/500 mL jars).