Homemade Freezer Jam Question

[MIGrandma]

It's been a l-o-n-g time, many years, since I made freezer jam.

I decided to make strawberry/rhubarb freezer jam today. I put it in small canning jars and they all self-sealed.

Now I remember learning how to make tomato juice/stewed tomatoes from my MIL and those jars (quart size) always self-sealed and we didn't put them through any more processing yet they kept for a long time just on the shelf.

Since these jam jars did self-seal, do I really need to freeze them?

 

[sbell111]

I don't know much about canning, but I would be super hesitant to store canned things out on a shelf if they weren't processed.

 

[Anne34]

freezer jam isn't pressure cooked like regular jam is. You are cooking the rhubarb to soften it and adding it to crushed strawberries, sugar & pectin. There are no preservatives in there. I make this all the time and freeze it. It says good for a long time & my kids love it.

 

[MIGrandma]

Thanks for the replies. I did a little research and it is not recommended to leave it out at room temperature even though the jars did "self seal." It used to be okay to do this but not recommended anymore.

Like I said, my MIL taught me how to do tomatoes and juice without pressure cooking, so I thought it "might" be okay for freezer jam but I guess not.

 

[Sadie22]

Tomatoes can be jarred using a boiling water bath because of the amount of acid they contain. The Ball guide to canning and freezing, which does a good job of explaining this and contains many recipes, can be found in many stores beginning about now. Freezer jam is intended to be frozen or refrigerated for a short period of time. I made some with small plastic jars with screw-on lids.

There's also lots of information on pickyourown.org.