I stick with the old Joy of Cooking jam and jelly recipes and techniques. They give instructions for temperatures required to achieve each set and how to test without a thermometer

Here is the page from the National Center for Home Preservation jams without pectin:

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/jam_without_pectin.html

This is our favorite...old fashioned preserves.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Strawberry Preserves Deluxe

Recipe By : 1995 Ball Blue Book
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Preserving

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

1 1/2 quarts strawberries

5 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Combine strawberries and sugar in a large saucepot. Let stand 3 to 4 hours. Bring slowly to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Add lemon juice. Cook rapidly until strawberries are transparent and syrup is thick, about 10-12 minutes.

Ladle into a shallow pan, Let stand, uncovered 12 to 24 hours in a cool place. Shake pan occasionally to distribute strawberries throughout syrup.

Heat strawberries and syrup until hot throughout. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

Ladle hot preserves into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 20 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Yield:

"4 half-pints"

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fyi, JoC recommends using some slightly under-ripe fruit because it has more natural pectin.

Thanks everyone. I have an old copy of JOC, but never thought to look in it. Since it is to pour rain all day today - it's a great day to make jam. I'll report back.

Olychick - I would like to know more about that low sugar pectin. I veer seriously savory in my taste buds, and would enjoy putting up berries this year. Thx in advance!

Artemis, I think this is what I bought, but it was in boxes, so I just had grabbed the wrong box. I almost didn't use it, but decided to try and was so happy with it. I looked for it this year but ended up with the regular, but I didn't know it came in these jars, so may have overlooked it.

https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Real-Fruit-No-Sugar-Needed-Pectin/dp/B004U8R0QA?th=1

2.25 lbs hulled and roughly mashed strawberries, 3-3/4 c. sugar, juice of one lemon. Macerate berries in sugar and lemon juice for several hours. Bring to a boil and boil for a few minutes to skim foam. Ladle into a non-reactive bowl or dish (I use a big pyrex baking dish), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The next day, bring to a boil. Boil about 8-10 minutes until meets jell test. Pour into clean jars, lid, proces in boiling water bath 10 minutes. Can take a day or two to fully set up in jars. Loose jam is preferrable to overly-stiff jam.

Well, I "jammed." I didn't realize that the most popular no pectin jams need an overnight rest and that didn't fit with my schedule. Since the flat that I bought (8 - 1 pint baskets) was 48.00 CDN, I didn't want to risk waiting til Sunday, should they go bad, so I used Certo. I wanted the less sugar type but both stores in our town are sold out and as I don't like to venture out much, I just bought the regular kind. It will be eaten no doubt. I will buy a couple of baskets next week and plan ahead for the overnight rest. Thanks again for all you help.

I use a recipe very similar to KatieC, given to me by Readinglady. After the berries are macerated and cooked the first time, it gets to set overnight. I take the berries out of the syrup and cook just the syrup to gel point, then add the berries back in. this gives me a "preserve" with whole/large pieces of berry, they aren't so smushed up. I use the same technique with peaches and pears.

Annie

I'm not sure what you mean by "no pectin jams need an overnight rest"... none of my JoC no-pectin recipes call for that. I do make the JoC cherry preserves recipe every year and they macerate in sugar overnight before cooking, but that's not the same as jam/jelly.

The NCHFP directions did not call for overnight, did you check it out?