The bread machine is an incredibly useful tool in our kitchens, allowing us to have fresh bread whenever we want, as good as if it were just pulled out of the oven. However, not everyone knows that this appliance can have other uses, helping us bring fresh and healthy jams to the table with only the addition of seasonal fruit and without artificial thickeners like pectin.

Whether for a colorful and nutritious breakfast or a sweet afternoon snack, preparing jams and preserves with a bread machine like those from Ariete is quick and easy. In this article, we will focus specifically on the strawberry jam recipe, sharing some useful tips to achieve an incomparable flavor and perfect consistency.

Strawberry jam with an Ariete bread machine: how to prepare it

There are countless recipes for strawberry jam. However, not all of them are accessible to those who are not exactly experts in the kitchen, and some prove too demanding in terms of time and effort even for cooking enthusiasts. Fortunately, we can prepare strawberry jam with a bread machine in a simpler, faster, and healthier way, using only the freshest ingredients and without adding artificial thickeners.

Of course, you can experiment with any flavor you like best, from citrus to peaches, as well as plums, apricots, blueberries, and black cherries. In any case, remember to be careful to choose fruit at the right degree of ripeness, neither too green nor too ripe. Furthermore, it is important to always wash the fruit with great care, while protection from browning is guaranteed by the bread machine preparation process itself.

Ingredients and tools

To delight the whole family with a genuine strawberry jam of the right consistency, we will need just a few simple ingredients. You will need about 300 grams of fresh strawberries, 150 grams of sugar - preferably granulated -, and the juice of half a lemon. To help the mixture thicken perfectly, we also recommend adding half a yellow apple.

The tool you will need is, of course, an Ariete Panexpress bread machine, available in the 1000 Metal variant. Not only do they knead, rise, and bake homemade bread, pizza, and desserts, but they also easily prepare perfect yogurt and jams with ever-changing flavors.

Strawberry jam: bread machine recipe

First, wash the strawberries well, remove the hull, and cut them into quite small pieces. Peel the apple and cut it finely, or alternatively, you can also grate it, adding it directly to the strawberry puree. As mentioned, using a yellow apple will help achieve the right consistency for our strawberry preserve without resorting to thickeners like pectin.

In the bread machine basket, place the strawberries, the apple pieces, or the puree depending on what you have chosen to prepare, and pour in the juice of half a lemon squeezed using a citrus juicer. It is recommended to wait 20 minutes before adding the sugar, which should be poured in a little at a time for a mouth-watering result.

At this point, set the bread machine to program 16, dedicated to jam, and let it work for one hour and twenty minutes. At the end of the cycle, check if the consistency is to your liking; otherwise, start a second cycle after waiting a few minutes. Pour the still-boiling preserve to the brim into airtight glass jars, previously sterilized, and screw the lid on tightly. Once the jars have cooled, you can check if the vacuum seal has formed correctly: if pressing the center of the lid does not produce the classic click, the vacuum is present. This way, you will have delicious, natural, and above all, healthy strawberry jam to enjoy whenever you want!

Tasty and economical strawberry jam!

The strawberry jam recipe with the Ariete bread machine doesn't just have the advantage of being extremely simple to prepare and made only with fresh, healthy ingredients. Added to the satisfaction of having made it at home without pectin or dyes is the obvious economic savings, eliminating the need to buy industrial jams at the supermarket. Our preserve will keep for 3 months, provided it has been allowed to stabilize properly for at least 2 weeks before consumption.