Strawberry Limoncello Jam

Start your canners, mason jars ready… it’s canning season, y’all!

First to the starting gate is the ever popular strawberry. Spring’s pride and joy, May’s main squeeze. Load up while you can, folks, because these beauties won’t last forever.

I was inspired to create this jam after seeing a similar concoction from Nashville’s own Bathtub Gin. I didn’t buy it, as much as I wanted to, because god knows I’ve got more than enough jam in my cabinets than is reasonable for two people (and it’s only June). Still, the combo stuck with me. I’ve done lemon and strawberry before, and I’ve done boozy jams too… so the addition of limoncello made perfect sense.

I wanted to post this in conjunction with a homemade limoncello recipe, but it still needs some work. The batch I made burns, and not in a good way. Maybe it was the everclear, or maybe I let it steep too long with the lemon, but regardless, the recipe isn’t quite ready to share so you’ll just have to wait. Luckily, I’ve got another batch of lemons on the way (thanks, Auntie Sal!) and as soon as it’s done brewing and is tested and confirmed to meet my quality control standards, I’ll post the recipe for y’all. But for now, I didn’t want strawberry season to hit you on the bum on its way out, so you can use store-bought limoncello (for now).

The lemon is subtle. The perfume of alcohol is subtle. Mostly you taste the strawberry, sweet (but not too sweet) with just a hint of tantalizing lemon. That’s why it’s important to use the best berries you can find. The kind that are red through and through, unworldly sweet and juicy, with a flavor that makes your eyes roll back in your head. These kinds of berries are usually a little imperfect, oddly shaped or barely brusied, and that’s ok: berries picked when they are perfectly ripe are going to get a little banged up. The short of it is, if you wouldn’t want to eat one by itself, it’s not going to be any better as jam.

Read the Rest —Strawberry Limoncello Jam

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