Strawberry Black Pepper Jam

Strawberry Black Pepper Jam – a very humble recipe that begged to be shared. 

This is a lesson in turning your rotting berries into jam. Don’t throw your rotting berries away! Not in this economy.

Before you judge me, I agree, the term “rotting fruit” does not sound appealing, no matter how you put it. Who wants a rotting berry jam, but I kindly ask you to use your common sense here. You know how naughty berries can be. They go from fresh and perky to a sad, wilted dying little thing in the blink of eye. So somewhere between the fresh and the death announcement, there’s a window where they’re still perfectly safe to eat, they’re just no longer in their prime. In that case, I say throw them in a pot with a bit of sugar, and they’ll preserved into a whole new version of themselves. A version that goes really well on a fruit plate, if you ask me.

This whole rotting fruit thing had me thinking about how necessity really does breed innovation, and how a man’s trash is another man’s treasure. In this economy, it’s a bit heartbreaking having to throw half a basket of berries away, so I believe it’s important to honor the food you have and not let it go to waste. I’m not advocating to wait until your berries are past their prime to make jam, we all know the freshest the ingredients, the better the final product. So, having say that, it’s advisable to manage your expectations.

If I’m being honest, when it comes to making a small batch of jam that won’t be given away as gifts, I usually eyeball everything. I’ve done it many times to say with a certain level of confidence, that you can’t really mess up jam too much. They always turn out pretty good. Sometimes I like my jam to be a little runnier than what you usually get at the grocery store, but for a more consistent texture, cook it a little bit longer.