Home Grown Strawberry Preserves
Last spring I planted Tessa’s strawberry patch, named after my oldest daughter who loves strawberries. We didn’t have much of a crop last year but this year her patch is thriving, and the berries are coming in abundance! Usually, I’m not big on strawberries but “Oh my God” home grown berries are so much more flavorful that what you get in the grocery store! When I pop a berry in my mouth its warm juicy flavor is like a burst of sunshine! Soooo… good!
The Strawberry patch is giving us so many berries in fact I’ve started to get creative in what to do with them. I remembered I had this great cookbook called lip smackin’ Jams & Jellies by Amy and David Butler, page 88. In it I found an easy peasy recipe on how to make Strawberry preserves and thought I’d give it a go! The recipe follows, my first attempt turned out tasty, except I miss read the directions and added one too many cups of sugar so my preserves are a little on the runny side. That said, I used some of it to make Andy a strawberry milk shake today and it turned out so yummy! I’m thinking a bit of it drizzled over brie cheese could make for a sweet and savory appetizers! I also think because of the syrupy consistence these preserves might also be good over pancakes or even French toast!
Our next batch of Strawberries Bella and I are going to attempt to freeze them, so we have these tasty little morse during the winter. Then the harvest after that I’m going to make this recipe again only this time with one less cup of sugar and follow the recipe correctly!
Ingredients
3 cups Strawberries
2 cups sugar (only 2, if you add three then you will get the syrupy consistence I got)
Instructions
Clean, wash and drain the strawberries, carefully to avoid crushing them. Use whole or cut as desired. To one cup of fruit, add 1 cup of sugar. Heat gradually to boiling and boil 6 to 7 minutes. Add one more cup of fruit and 1 cup of sugar. Boil 6-7minutes again. Next add the last cup of fruit and boil for another 6 to 7 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars and seal!
This recipe makes 3 cups (4 if you screw up and add an extra cup of sugar like I did!)
Bon Appetit!
Lip smackin’ Jams and Jellies
Amy and David Buttle
ISBN 1-57071-676-5
