Years ago my girlfriends and I decided we would try our hand at making homemade strawberry jam. We went to the local strawberry stand and bought up flats of fresh strawberries, brought them home then stemmed and washed them. Next came the blender to make crushed strawberries and away we went. It was actually so very easy and super tasty that we never went back to store bought.
I have switched to a Lower Sugar Sure Jell that I've been using for at least 10 years now. I also started buying the strawberries in the freezer section of Costco where they are already washed and stemmed. Don't judge! They are picked at their peek and flash frozen for the best flavor. I can't even bring myself to buy strawberry jam at the store and haven't in many a years.
