Cypriot Strawberry Jam

1. Wash the strawberries very well with water and carefully remove the stalks without breaking their wholeness. Wash again with water if needed. Squeeze the juice of the lemons. Arrange the strawberries in a single layer in a suitable vessel, pour the lemon juice evenly over them so each strawberry absorbs a little of it. Cover with cling film and leave for 3-4 hours.
2. Boil the water in a pot on the stove and reduce to just a simmer. Gently drop in the strawberries drained from the lemon juice and, once it boils again, time 2-3 minutes, just enough for the fruit to change colour. Remove them with a slotted spoon into a tray.
3. Put the sugar with 1 1/2 cups of the water in which the strawberries were boiled. Stir occasionally until the sugar melts. Once it boils, reduce the heat and let the syrup thicken considerably. Then add the strawberries to it and remove the pot from the stove.
4. Let the strawberry jam cool, gently swirling the vessel periodically. At first the fruit floats on the surface of the syrup, but then it gradually absorbs the syrup and sinks into it.
5. Then put the vessel in the fridge for 1 night. The next day carefully remove the strawberries from the syrup, draining it well from the fruit. Put the syrup back on the stove to thicken over moderate heat, without boiling strongly.
6. Remove the re-thickened syrup from the stove, let it cool a little and dip the strawberries back into it. Here there are 2 options. If you want to make jam for long storage, distribute the jam while still hot into jars, close them and turn them upside down. If it is for quick consumption, once cool put the vessel back in the fridge to chill, then distribute into jars, close them and store in the fridge.

Prep 20 min · Cook 50 min · Total 70 min.