Midsummer Jam - strawberry jam with elder flowers

This week I have "rented" a strawberry bed consisting of 3 rows of 5 meters of strawberry plants "for free" of a rowing friend. I think this is an amazing offer, as I can go and pick fresh strawberries every single day. The only thing, which I did not consider was the amount of strawberries, which I picking everyday. I pick between 1-2 kg strawberries every single day !!!! Eating 1-2 kg strawberries can prove to be something of task, if you are not a large house hold. So I have to come up with idea as how to use all these strawberries !

One of my first idea was to make this Midsummer Jam combined strawberries and elder flowers, which both are peeking around Midsummer :-) I will also be forwarding this specific recipe to a Danish competition hosted by the magazine Isabellas and Dansukker, the name of this competition is "Danmarks Lækreste Syltetøj" (The most delicious Danish Jam). My colleagues did enjoy a portion of the Midsummer Jam yesterday at our weekly breakfast meeting, and found it all to be very tasteful and a the same time asked me to share the recipe with them, which I hereby do :-)

I love this combination of strawberries and elder flowers, it makes the jam taste like pure magic :-)

Midsummer Jam - strawberry jam with elder flowers:

• 800 g strawberries - cut into halves
• 3/4 dl elder flower cordial
• 12 g pectin / gelling powder
• 450 g sugar
• 4 stems of elder flowers - only the flower heads
• ½ teaspoon of white wine or apple vinegar - optional

1. Heat up the strawberries together with the elder flower cordial in a cooking pot together over low heat. Stir on a regular basis.
2. Heat the fruit up to 80'C. Mix the pectin/gelling powder together with 50 g sugar. Add this dry-mix slowly to the strawberries, while you very well in the cooking pot to avoid lump formation.
3. Let the strawberries cook slowly for another 5 minutes. Stir on a regular basis.
4. Add in the rest of the sugar. 
5. Bring the jam to the boiling point and let it boil for 2 minutes.
6. Taste the jam. If you find it too be to sweet/matured in taste, you can add some vinegar to bring freshness back to the jam. I normally do this in smaller steps, so I can fine tune the flavour profile to my preference. It is more easy to add some extra, than to remove an overdose of something.
7. After the tasting adjustments have be done, add the elder flowers and stir well again.
8. Let the jam boil for another 2 minutes.
9. Prepare the jam glasses by filling them with boiling water. I do not use any preservatives in my home-made jam, so this is important to increase shelf-life of your jam. Another thing you can do is to store the jam cold afterwards.
10. Fill the glass with jam and close the glass.
11. Store the jam cold.