A Crate of Strawberries ~ Miscellaneous Musings

"I had the agreeable surprise of finding several scarlet strawberries quite ripe – had you been at home, this would have been a pleasure lost!"

~ Jane Austen, Excerpt from Letter to sister Cassandra, 1811

We only purchase strawberries when they are in season and when we do, we make sure to stock up on them. Our aim is to preserve them to keep them usable for the duration of the year. Unfortunately, they still don't last long! 

Preparing frozen strawberries are always first on our list. We will use ours in our morning smoothies and blended with kombucha (my sister in law taught this to me, so tasty!). The best way to freeze your fruit is on trays or cookie sheets without them touching (after they are hulled). Once frozen, remove them from the tray and place them in a freezer bag or plastic container. Flash freezing (as this method is called) the strawberries first helps to keep them from sticking to each other so that you can grab a small amount of berries at a time when you need them.

We also tried something new this year and it is one of the healthiest ways you can preserve your berries (because everything is raw). The author calls it refrigerator jam but it can also be frozen. It is so simple to make! All you need are chia seeds, honey, strawberries and a blender. No cook, no hassle… just refrigerate and/or freeze your extras. I did about 4 quarts of this. Our freezer space is dwindling and so I decided to prepare the rest of the jam for our pantry.

Link: Recipe for "Raw" Strawberry Refrigerator/Freezer Jam

In order to maximize the canning mess, I wanted to make sure we had enough jars to fill up our canner for a complete batch of jam. Using the low/no sugar pectin, here is the recipe I used which gave me approx. 7 pint jars of strawberry honey jam.

• 6 2/3 c. of crushed berries
• 1 2/3 c. of water
• 7 1/2 tbsp. low-no sugar pectin
• 2 1/2 c. honey

Process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes.

This was a good jam but it doesn't taste exactly like the regular sugar laden jam recipe that many of us are accustomed to (honey has a distinctly different flavor). My husband really liked it but I am ashamed to say that I might opt for the low-sugar recipe next time using a reduced amount of sugar instead of honey.

I also tried making another strawberry honey jam which doesn't require the purchased pectin. Shredded apples are added into the pot which is naturally high in pectin (the thickener for jams) because strawberries are low in pectin. This recipe came out very good, just keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn because it does require more cooking time to get the desired consistency.

Link: Recipe for Canning Strawberry Honey Jam (No Pectin Needed)

I also couldn't resist showing you my gingham canning lids. These were sent to me in the mail as a surprise gift! It was during the time of our move across the country (and leaving family and friends). I hardly knew this woman but her package arrived in the mail and I loved her instantly for her sisterly love. I haven't found these anywhere in the United States (this and this are the closest I came to them). I think she may have purchased them in Australia! What a special gift this was!

We also prepared some fruit leather with our left over strawberries. Dipping them in chocolate makes them into a delightful dessert. Might I also mention that the jam would be delicious in our fruit and cereal grain bar recipe? However, when all is said and done, our favorite way to utilize the strawberry is to eat them while they are still nice and fresh (and as much as we can)! They are "jam" packed with vitamin c so I find them to be the tastiest supplement in God's pharmacy!

"The Strawberry.—The flavor of antiquity rests upon the wild strawberry. Its fruit was peddled by itinerant dealers about the streets of ancient Grecian and Roman cities. Virgil sings of it in pastoral poems, and Ovid mentions it in words of praise. The name by which the fruit was known to the Greeks indicates its size; with the Latins its name was symbolic of its perfume. The name strawberry probably came from the old Saxon streawberige, either from some resemblance of the stems to straw, of from the fact that the berries have the appearance when growing of being strewn upon the ground. In olden times, children strung the berries upon straws, and sold so many "straws of berries" for a penny, from which fact it is possible the name may have been derived. The strawberry is indigenous to the temperate regions of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, but it seems to have been matured in gardens, only within the last two centuries."

~ Science in the Kitchen by Mrs. E.E. Kellogg, 1893

We will be sharing more strawberry love in the next few weeks:
Strawberries ~ A Relaxed Summer Style Unit Study
Strawberry Labels for All Your Preserving Projects ~ Free Printable
Strawberry "Mason Jar Labels and More" Gift Kit ~ Free Printable
What do you do with your sweet strawberries?

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