Give Your Homemade Strawberry Jam An Extra Kick With This Common Canned Ingredient

Jam has a long tradition as a sweet addition to sandwiches, scones, and even meats or cheese. It's such a versatile and often comforting ingredient, and comes in many irresistible flavors. Strawberry jam is a very popular option, and it takes just a few simple steps to make it at home. If you'd like an easy recipe to make homemade jam, and perhaps even amp up the flavor, try making strawberry jam with some boosted sweetness and spice by using one extra ingredient in the process; store-bought, real ginger ale!

Making jam at home using our easy method, you'll need a ratio of 4 cups of berries to 2 cups of sugar. You might need pectin if the berry you're using doesn't contain much, like raspberry, but it should be fine if you're using strawberries. Mash the berries and sugar with a potato masher, then boil approximately 10 to 20 minutes until bubbly. Add room temperature ginger ale, the real version with bits of ginger, to the mixture, skim off foam, and let sit until cooled. You can refrigerate the jam, or properly can the mixture to preserve it. You have just created a unique version of strawberry jam! 

Jam has roots in ancient Egyptian culture, where they learned to preserve fruits in honey. This culinary skill, which became the basis of fruit preservation, was used by the ancient Greeks. In the European middle ages, sugar became prominent. The wealthy used it to preserve exotic fruits, which became the preferred way to eat jam among the aristocracy, and later the rest of the world.

There is a difference between jam and its cousin jelly, which might surprise some folks. They're basically interchangeable, but jelly is strained and jam has fruit pieces left intact, making it chunky. Most people recognize the use of jam and jelly in their PB&J sandwiches, but tangy and mildly acidic jam can be used in sandwiches using savory ingredients too, such as roasted vegetables or cured meats, as it cuts through the fat. Strawberry ginger ale jam would add a bright, sharp touch to any combination of foods traditionally served with jelly or jam. 

Ginger ale has a more modern origin story, beginning as a version of ginger beer, which was brewed in Victorian England. Ginger ale was created by a pharmacist in Canada, and had no alcohol, though it was used during the prohibition as a mixer to mask the flavor of alcohol. The sweet ginger flavor is great as a beverage as well as an ingredient in other dishes, like our jam.