Strawberry Vanilla Jam

Every year in this period I get kind of crazyness for fruit. Strawberries, cherries, apricots, peaches... They seem to come and go too quickly every time and I never get to enjoy them as much as I'd like to. At first, I want to eat them plain and fresh as much as possible, then come all the desserts I'd like to try, from ice cream to cakes and much more, to finish with a few jars of delicious homemade jam.
Last year I managed to make just two small jars of strawberry jam before I discovered they were already out of season. No need to say how quickly those two jars disappeared.
It looks I won't be much luckier this year... but at least four jars have been added to the shelf... actually the number's already decreasing, I'm afraid... I think this week will be kind of signed by desperate search of more strawberries, because this is THE best strawberry jam I'll ever be able to find around here.
The method is the one I've been using for the third year in a row, completely natural, with only natural pectin present in lemon skins and seeds. All the jams I've prepared using this method taste great. They keep well. And honestly, there's relatively little work and time spent cooking it compared to some other methods.
I don't know about you, but an idea of some homemade, strawberry jam with a slice of freshly baked bread kind of makes me wish it was breakfast time all day long  ^__^

Strawberry Vanilla Jam

* 1 kg strawberries
* 400 g sugar
* 2 lemons 
* 1 vanilla bean

Wash, hull and dry the strawberries. Cut in half or quarters (depending on their size) and put in a bowl. Add sugar, mix well, seal and leave in the fridge over night, stirring a couple times for sugar to dissolve better.
The following morning, place a colander over a pot and put the strawberries in. This way you'll separate the juice from the pulp.
Cut the vanilla bean in half lenghtwise and scrape the seeds. Add the vanilla bean to the juice and the seeds to the strawberry pulp set aside.
Bring the juice in the pot to a boil and continue cooking on medium heat for 20-30 minutes - you'll notice it's starting getting syrupy.
Peel the zest (the yellow part of the skin) from the lemons - you don't need them here, if your lemons are organic you may use them for something else, otherwise just discard. Cut the lemons in half and squeeze the juice, don't discard the seeds. Add the juice to the strawberry pulp (if you think juice from both lemons is too much for your taste, add less, but lemon juice will help the jam only thicken better but also keep nicer colour).
Put the empty lemon skins and the seeds into a piece of clean cheesecloth and tie it into a bundle.
When the juice in the pot starts caramelizing slightly, add the strawberry pulp and the cheesecloth bundle with the lemon skins inside.
Cook for 10-15 minutes stirring every now and then. Then remove the lemon skins and squeeze the juices they have absorbed back into the pot (the easiest way to this is to put them into a potato ricer, otherwise use a mash strainer and press with a spoon).
Continue cooking your jam for 5 more minutes, remove from heat, take the vanilla beans out and then pour the hot jam into hot, sterilized jars.
note: if you prefer smooth jam, with no pieces of fruit in it, give it a few swirls with a stick blender before pouring it into jars.
Close the jars and turn them upside down. Let them sit on the lids for at least 10 minutes or until completely cool before storing them.
How to sterilize the jars: place the carefully washed and dried jars into cold oven. Turn the oven on to 110°C and leave the jars inside all the time the jam is being cooked. For the lids - I simply leave the carefully washed lids in a bowl with alcohol to sterilize them.

Confettura di fragole e vaniglia


* 1 kg di fragole
* 400 g zucchero 
* 2 limoni 
* 1 baccello di vaniglia


Lavate e asciugate le fragole. Togliete i piccioli e tagliatele a pezzi. Riunite in una ciotola le fragole e lo zucchero. Mescolate bene, coprite e lasciate macerare nel frigo per una notte, mescolando bene un paio di volte.
La mattina dopo separate il succo dalla polpa versando il tutto in un colino.
Mettete il succo in una casseruola.
Tagliate il baccello di vaniglia a metà nel senso di lunghezza e con un coltello togliete i semi. Aggiungete i semi alla polpa di fragole e il baccello vuoto al succo. Mettete la casseruola con il succo sul fuoco, quando comincia a bollire continuate a cuocerlo a fuoco medio per circa 20-30 minuti, deve cominciare ad addensarsi.
Nel frattempo, pelate la parte gialla delle bucce di limoni (non serve), tagliate i limoni a metà e spremete il succo, conservate anche i semi.
Aggiungete il succo spremuto alla polpa di fragole. Le bucce vuote, invece, insieme ai semi, legate in un pezzo di garza pulita.
Quando il succo comincia a caramellarsi, aggiungete la polpa e le bucce. Lasciate cuocere per altri 10-15 minuti, poi togliete le bucce e spremetele bene (io uso uno schiacciapatate). Cuocete la confettura per altri 5 minuti circa, poi togliete dal fuoco, togliette il baccello di vaniglia prima di versarla calda nei vasetti caldi e sterilizzati.
Se preferite la confettura più liscia, senza pezzettini di frutta, frullatela un po' con il frullatore a immersione prima di versarla nei vasetti.
Chiudete i vasetti e lasciateli raffreddare girati sui coperchi.


Per sterilizzare i vasetti: mettete i vasetti lavati bene e asciugati nel forno freddo. Accendete poi il forno a 110°C e lasciate così finché la confettura non è pronta. Per sterilizzare i coperchi, io li lascio immersi nel alcool.

Pekmez / džem od jagoda s vanilijom


* 1 kg očišćenih jagoda 
* 400 g šećera 
* 2 limuna 
* 1 mahuna vanilije


Oprane i posušene jagode narežite na komadiće, pomiješajte u zdjeli sa šećerom, poklopite i ostavite u hladnjaku preko noći.
Procijedite jagode tako da odvojite sok koji su pustile. Stavite sok u lonac.
Mahunu vanilije prerežite na pola po dužini i sastružite sjemenke. Dodajte sjemenke i praznu mahunu u sok. Stavite kuhati na srednje jaku vatru, 20-30 minuta od trenutka kad provrije - osjetit ćete kad ga miješate da se počinje lagano zgušnjavati/ karamelizirati.
U međuvremenu ogulite limunima vanjski žuti sloj (ne treba vam). Iscijedite sok - ne bacajte sjemenke.
Sok dodajte jagodama, a prazne polovice limuna i sjemenke zavežite u komad gaze. Ako želite dodati začinsko bilje (ja sam prošle godine dodala limunski timijan npr.) stavite ga u gazu skupa s koricama limuna. Dodajte sad komadiće jagoda i zavežljajčić s koricama limuna u lonac.
Kuhajte opet 10-15 minuta, a zatim izvadite zavežljajčić s koricama i dobro ga iscijedite (ja ga stavim u tijesak za krumpir).
Kuhajte pekmez još 5 minuta, a zatim ga maknite s vatre, izvadite mahune vanilije, i ulijte pekmez u vruće, sterilizirane staklenke. Stavite poklopce, čvrsto zatvorite i okrenite staklenke naopako da se stvori vacuum. Ostavite u tom položaju najmanje 10 minuta ili dok se pekmez skroz ne ohladi.
Ako volite pekmez bez komadića voća, prije nego ćete ga sipati u staklenke, kratko sve izmiksajte štapnim mikserom.
*STERILIZIRANJE STAKLENKI: Pažljivo oprane i posušene staklenke stavite u hladnu pećnicu, a zatim je uključite na 110°C da se zagrijava sve skupa. Držite staklenke na ovoj temperaturi dok pekmez nije gotov, znači 20-30 minuta. Pokopce operite i potopite u alkohol ili rakiju.