Midsummer Jam with balsamico twist

As mentioned yesterday I have so lucky to "borrow a strawberry field" of a rowing friend on Summer vacation. I picked more strawberries, than I could eat, so I decided to all these strawberries into various Summer jams, thereby shaving some of the Danish Midsummer for later use in the Autumn and Winter.

As the first jam I decided to twist to this recipe on Midsummer jam - strawberry jam with elder flower with addition of a little amount of balsamico vinegar, as balsamico marinated strawberries taste fantastic. Perhaps I could have added a little more balsamico vinegar, but it is difficult to remove that extra balsamico vinegar from the jam, if it was too much. I will leave in your capable hands, when you adjust the taste with balsamico. The trick is always to take small steps, and not giant leaps (= teaspoon full).

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

Midsummer Jam with balsamico twist - strawberry jam with elder flowers:

• 600 g strawberries - cut into halves
• ½ dl elder flower cordial
• 9 g pectin / gelling powder
• 330 g sugar
• 4 stems of elder flowers - only the flower heads
• ½ teaspoon of balsamico vinegar
• preservative - 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 30 g sugar. Add this dry-mix slowly to the strawberries, while you stir 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. Add in the balsamico vinegar.
7. Taste the jam. If you find it too be to sweet/matured in taste, you can add some apple 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.
8. After the tasting adjustments have be done, add the elder flowers and stir well again.
9. Let the jam boil for another 2 minutes.
10. Prepare the jam glasses by filling them with boiling water.
11. Fill the glass with jam and close the glass.
12. Store the jam cold to prolong the shelf-life,