Strawberry Chia Jam with a Twist
A few weeks before summer officially began, I sat down and wrote a bucket list of all the things that I wanted to (try to) do before September rolled around. One of the items on the list was berry picking. I have a couple of raspberry bushes in my own garden and I can often times be found picking wild berries in some field or on the side of the road, but I had never actually gone to a berry farm and picked my own. Lucky for me, I live in the perfect area for picking your own produce.
On a sunny and ridiculously hot afternoon, my friend Katie and I set out on a strawberry picking adventure. It only took us about 15 minutes to pick ten pounds of strawberries. As we were picking we did a little bit of sampling, THEY WERE THE BEST STRAWBERRIES I HAD EVER TASTED, no word of a lie. Incredibly juicy, vibrant red in colour, andΒ burstingΒ with flavour.
As I carried my copious amount of berries towards the cash I began to ponder how much these berries would end up costing me, seeing as I had not thought to check the priceΒ beforeΒ picking ten pounds of berries. I was fully prepared to drop $50 on these berries, but to my pleasant surprise my grand total was under $20. Yes, you read that right, under $20 for the best strawberries ever. I was quite pleased by this.
Upon returning home I prepped most of the berries to be frozen for later use in jams, smoothies, and baked goods. I’ve made a few delicious treats with my abundance of berries and this recipe that I’m about to share with you here has been on repeat for the last few weeks in my house. I love adding chia jam to my oats, spreading it on toast, and sometimes I even eat it with a spoon straight out of the jar.
Once upon a time someone suggested that I try adding the spice ground sumac to strawberries and I finally decided to try it. Sumac is more of a savoury spice that is typically found in Middle Eastern cooking, but it works wonderfully with strawberries, take my word for it!
Of course, if you aren’t feeling too adventurous and want to use stick with plain strawberry chia am, feel free to omit the sumac and save that adventure for a rainy day. π
xx
Ashley
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground sumac (optional)
- 1/4 cup chia seeds
Instructions
- Place the strawberries in a medium saucepan with the lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, and sumac. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often.
- Once the strawberries are soft you can remove the mixture from the heat. Use a fork to mash up the strawberries.
- Stir in the chia seeds and leave the jam to cool. As the jam cools the chia seeds will form a gel.
- Once the jam is completely cool it can be transferred into a jar and kept in the fridge for up to a week.