Easy Strawberry Jam - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 lbs strawberries, washed and hulled and blotted dry
2 tablespoons fruit fresh
1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh (half a large lemon)
7 cups sugar
1 3/4 ounces Sure-Jell
1 teaspoon butter (optional)

Preparation

Put your very clean half-pint jars and bands into a huge pot of boiling water.
Put lids in hot but not boiling water.
Start your water-bath canner and let it come to a rolling boil before you start the recipe.
Crush the strawberries a layer at a time in a big pot (the recipe boils up) but don't pulverize them as they cook down easily. When the first layer is crushed add another layer and repeat until all of the berries are crushed.
Add Fresh Fruit and Sure Jell and stir well. Add lemon juice and stir well.
Bring to a boil over medium to medium high heat and add the sugar stirring constantly until it comes to a full boil. Boil for one minute, stirring all the while.
Remove from the stove and set on a few thicknesses of bath towels.
Drop in a teaspoon of butter to help cut the foam and skim if you need to.
Ladle into hot jars and process in a fiercely boiling hot water bath for ten minutes. Turn off the heat and wait about 2 minutes and remove the jars to a rack set over a bath towel or on a double thickness of bath towels.
Wait 24 hours, check seals, remove bands and wipe the jars and label them.