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These homemade jam sandwiches are a delicious, all-natural way to fill up that lunchbox!

A quick homemade jam is not difficult to make. It only takes a few minutes to cook down the berries into a jam-like consistency. It won’t be quite as thick as jam made with pectin, but it will be thick enough to spread over sandwich bread, and you have the option to add sweetener or leave it out.

Two Jam Sandwiches on a plate with some cut fruit.

JAM SANDWICH HISTORY

Jam sandwiches have been around a long time. Their history is interesting to note here.

Jam sandwiches are thought to have originated at around the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The jam sandwich was an affordable food which was a major part of the diets of the lower/working-class people of cities such as London and Glasgow. One plausible reason for this was that the ingredients that the jam sandwiches were made from cost little to manufacture and due to taxes being lifted on sugar in 1880, it became widely available as a cheap foodstuff. Traditionally, jam sandwiches are just jam and bread, but with the invention of the toaster oven a variety of open jam sandwich became popular, now known as jam and toast. source

Two Jam Sandwiches in a metal bento lunchbox.

HOW TO MAKE JAM SANDWICHES

The concept is super simple. If you can make toast with jam, you can make a jam sandwich. That being said, in this recipe, you’ll be making the jam first. I promise it’s not as difficult or time-consuming as it sounds.

For this recipe, I’ll recommend berries. Berries tend to cook down easily and quickly. For this, you’ll simply put your berries in a pot, mash them a bit with a fork to get some of the liquid out, and then cook over low to medium heat, smashing the berries more and more as it cooks until you have something that resembles warm jam. It does thicken as it cools, but you don’t have to cool it completely to use it.

Cut fruit options to pack with your jam sandwiches.

CAN YOU FREEZE JAM SANDWICHES

Unfortunately, no. Jam sandwiches do not freeze well. But you can store the jam in a separate container as you would any type of jam. It will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. I usually make mine in small amounts to make sure it all gets used up in that five-day period.

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MORE SANDWICH RECIPES:

JAM SANDWICHES

Jam Sandwiches

An easy sandwich to help fill those lunchboxes.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Lunch

Cuisine: American, English

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 20

Servings: serving

Calories: 178kcal

Equipment

Small pot

Ingredients

½ cup berries (mixed or one type – either way)
2 slices whole grain bread

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Over low heat, mash and cook berries until they are runny and jam-like.
Remove from heat and place in fridge until cool.
Spread jam on bread and place an additional piece of bread on top to create a sandwich.
Cut lengthwise or use cookie cutters to cut.

Notes:

If your berries are very dry or don't give you enough juice to cook the berries without burning them, you can add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, as needed. But don't go overboard or your jam won't thicken.

Notes

Please note that the nutrition data given here is a ballpark figure. Exact data is not possible.

Nutrition