How to make
The strawberries are cleaned and washed thoroughly under cold water. With a sharp knife, remove their stalks, making sure to cut as little as possible from the fruits, so that you don't injure them and remain whole during their heat treatment.
The cleaned strawberries are arranged in one row in a baking pan and poured with the juice of 3 squeezed lemons, carefully and gently moving with a spoon so that the juice covers each fruit. Cover with foil and leave for 3-4 hours at room temperature.
1 liter of water is boiled on the stove. Remove the strawberries from the lemon juice with a slotted spoon and drop into the boiling water. Boil for 2-3 minutes, then remove again with a slotted spoon. Strain well and arrange side by side in a large baking pan, again in one row.
In a deep pot, mix the sugar - 1 kg and 375 ml of the water in which the strawberries were boiled. Place on high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts.
When it boils, the heat on the stove is reduced to a gentle simmer and the syrup is left to thicken. It needs to thicken more because when the strawberries are added it will become more liquid.
Carefully transfer the strawberries into the syrup with a spoon and remove the pot from the heat.
Cool to room temperature, shaking the pot occasionally.
At the beginning of pouring the strawberries will come to the surface of the syrup, but later they will absorb it and sink into it.
The cooled jam is stored in the refrigerator without covering it with a lid or foil.
The next day, using a slotted spoon, remove the strawberries from the syrup and arrange them side by side in a dry baking pan.
The syrup, which has liquefied, is placed on the stove and boiled to the desired thickness. Remove from the heat and after cooling, pour over the fruit.
Cool completely and leave for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator, then divide into 2-3 jars and store in the refrigerator.
If longer term storage is required, distribute it while still hot into dry and hot jars.
The Cypriot Strawberry Jam is very successful, try it!
Note: Since we will store the strawberry jam for a longer period of time, I poured it hot into dry hot jars, then inverted them to vacuum seal.
This longer recipe gives a great result. A jam is obtained, not marmalade, with a beautiful strawberry color, just like the color of strawberries themselves. The fruits remain whole and retain their shape. After the jam has completely cooled, it thickens nicely.
I had some juice left over from the strawberries that were soaked in lemon juice, which I boiled down with a little sugar to just a syrup. I poured it into a hot, dry jar.
