Strawberry Jam

I'm not sure where the urge came from, but I had been thinking about homemade strawberry jam, but usually you have to mess with pectin, etc...and it just seems too tedious for me.  But, then I found a recipe that uses apple to act as the pectin and it worked great.  I messed with the recipe a bit and...Yum, yum, yum!!!  You've got to try this recipe!  The lemon at the very end adds such a nice tartness and really brings out the strawberry flavor.  Seriously...so good.

Ingredients

3 pints fresh strawberries

3 cups sugar

2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur

1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and small-diced

1/2 lemon  

Directions

Rinse, drain and hull the strawberries. Cut the larger berries in half or quarters and leave the small berries whole. Place the strawberries in a deep, heavy-bottomed pot such as heavy Dutch oven and toss them with the sugar and orange-flavored liqueur.

Bring the berry mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Add the apple and continue to keep the mixture at a rolling boil, stirring occasionally, until the jam reaches 220 degrees on a candy thermometer. This should take 25 to 35 minutes. Skim and discard any foam that rises to the top. Squeeze the half lemon in and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then store covered in the refrigerator. It will keep refrigerated for at least 2 weeks.