I have the worst time getting sugar to dissolve in strawberries for freezer jam!

I stir & I stir & I stir - then I let it sit & stir some more!

I always add a couple tablespoons of water.

I found that when I mix the sugar and the fruit together it works better if i warm it just a little bit in the microwave for about 1 minute, before I stir in the jell mix.  This works better for me.

BonnieRae:

super fine sugar

aren't the measurements different?

sstetzel:

I stir & I stir & I stir - then I let it sit & stir some more!

Without heat, stirring alone isn't going to help too much. Not knowing your particular recipe, the freezer jams I'm familiar with use boiling water for the pectin, and that will readily dissolve the sugar.

Kitchen Science: Sugar is more soluble in hot water than room temperature or cold water. It will dissolve faster as the temperature of the water increases, so the higher the water temperature, the higher the solubility rate. Thus more sugar will dissolve in boiling water because the molecules have more energy to move around and the heat breaks the chemical bonds of the molecular structure of each crystal.

You want to be sure you are using pure cane sugar and not beet sugar too. Pure cane dissolves better.

lindapearl:

Sugar is more soluble in hot water

This is very true - the recipe I use comes with the pectin, 2 cups crushed fruit to 4 cups of sugar + a Tbsp of lemon juice..stir & let sit 10 minutes.  Pectin & water are mixed, brought to a boil & then stirred into the fruit mixture.  It sets up great, never an issue there.  Typically what I do is give the berry mixture a stir now & then while it sits, it sits longer then 10 minutes - if I followed their timing I would have a big lump of sugar in the bottom of the bowl.

I think that it just takes some time, unless you do like I did once. I added "sugar" that was in dish on counter. Dang those raspberries just wouldn't macerate. They never would because that "sugar" was left over salt from previous night's margaritas.

LOL Whoops!

When I'm sweetening berries for shortcake toppings, I just put them in a ziplock bag with the sugar and shake the **** out of them!

LF - part of the problem here is that it's twice as much sugar as berrys.  I don't usually put that much sugar on them for shortcake.  I could shake the *** out of the person who wrote the recipe though, that might help, LOL.