Strawberry Vanilla Jam

I love home made jam. It tastes more like fruit then some sort of fruit flavored jelly stuff, which seems to be all that's available at the store. People get all excited and impressed at my domestic ability when I give them a jar of jam, which I find kinda funny. Really, all making jam entails is cutting up a bunch of fruit, throwing in some sugar and pectin, and stirring for awhile before you pour it into jars and dunk it in hot water. Easy!

I found this recipe for strawberry vanilla jam over at Canadian Living's website, and I thought it sounded amazing. It also helped that a local candy shop had vanilla beans on sale for 50% off, and I stocked up on a bunch especially so I could try this recipe. Last weekend I whipped up this jam and I've had it on my toast every morning this week.

While I loved this recipe, I have to warn you that the vanilla flavor isn't that apparent. It's really mild, almost to the point where I could miss it altogether. You may want to add more, if you can. I had just scraped out the seeds of one vanilla bean and then put the pod in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar, but perhaps I should have boiled it with the jam. (Edited to add: ah-HA! I was supposed to add the pod! Silly me!)


At any rate, it's pretty yummy! I think it would be delicious if you want to use the jam for a filling in a jelly roll or something.