My first canning adventure: strawberry jam! Many of the lids popped, so I am hopeful that they sealed, but I am still nervous about the pectin doing is job. I will trust.

@ElectricDryad I miss homemade jam. Yum!

I haven't canned in years, but I did used to make hundreds of jars of jam each year.

As long as you followed a reputable recipe, it's more than likely just fine. I used the recipe book put out by Bernardin I think, Bernardin being a manufacturer of canning jars and other equipment.

@ElectricDryad also, if the worst happens and the jam did not set, you now have strawberry sauce or syrup. Still very very delicious and very useable. :)

Jam update: It did not set. 😞 Lesson learned, follow the recipe better, do not experiment. But now I have several jars of strawberry sauce/syrup I guess?

@ElectricDryad I'm so sorry to hear that.

Do you want troubleshooting help/suggestions?

@Laurie I appreciate you asking! I think I know what went wrong, which is that I tried to substitute some of the sugar with honey which I assume messed with the chemistry of it. But if that SHOULD have worked then I am all ears for suggestions of common problems.

@ElectricDryad ah< yeah, no, that would do it. Honey contains more water/less sugar, so it will throw things off. You need to cook the fruit with sugar and pectin long enough for it to gel, and honey will affect that.

But, more importantly. With hot water bath canning (not pressure canning), you need a certain amount of sugar and/or acid to safely preserve the jam, so even if it set, if that sugar/acid ratio was off, it may not have been safely preserved.

Best to stick with safe recipes, ie recipes from canning equipment manufacturers or, from what I hear, county something or other offices in the US. I would not trust a recipe from a blog, though - I wouldn't trust them to know enough about safe canning procedures.

@Laurie Yeah, so now I have 12 cans of sauce that need to get used up pronto because I have no idea whether they will keep properly 😅

On the plus side, they DID all seal properly, so at least I have that going for me.

@ElectricDryad I'm heading to bed now. I have an idea of a solution that I am not 100% certain about.

You could theoretically take all that jam, shove it back in your pot, add the sugar back in that you subbed out, and cook the jam again until it thickens. It will then have enough sugar, although with added honey, that it likely would be okay.

Ah! County extension offices! That's what they're called! If you're in the US, call them and ask for advice.

Now soliciting suggestions about what to do with a significant amount of strawberry sauce/syrup/whatever. So far, my plans are eat it with yogurt, ice cream or various desert-type things. What else?

@ElectricDryad
I'm curious about the flavour and consistency. If it's anything similar to kissel, it could work with porridge or rice pudding. 🤔

Could try to slip some of it into some baking. Strawberry pancakes or cake.
Could also be nice in tea, if you like sweet berry tea? (I'm a sugar mouse so prolly would work for me, heh!)

Or mixing it in some milk in case it would taste like strawberry milkshake? :D

I personally might also try to turn some into like... A jelly? Or sherbet? Custard!