Food Preservation – Strawberries

“In the Season Thereof”

Strawberry Jam

2 quarts crushed strawberries

6 cups sugar

Combine berries and sugar in a large sauce pot. Bring slowly to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cook rapidly until thick, about 40 minutes. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Pour hot into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch head space. Adjust caps. Process 15 minutes in boiling water bath or steam canner. Yield: about 4 pints.

Cooked for Frozen Strawberry Jam with Pectin

Purchase pectin in the canning section of the grocery store. Follow instruction inside the box. Pectin will speed up the cooking time for cooked jams. Freezer jam tastes great and is easy to make with a box of pectin.

Frozen Strawberries:

Select fully ripe, firm berries with a deep red color. Sort out immature and defective fruit. Gently wash the berries in several changes of cold water. Remove caps and place berries in a colander to drain. Prepare in one of the following ways:

Sugar Pack: Slice the berries in halves or thirds, lengthwise. Mix 6 parts sliced berries with 1 part sugar. Allow to stand until sugar dissolves (about 10 minutes) Gently stir. Pack into freezer boxes, bags, or jars. Seal, label and freeze.

Syrup Pack: Leave the berries whole or slice. Pack in freezer jars or plastic freezer boxes. Cover with 50% syrup (1 cup sugar to 2 cups water). Seal, label, freeze

Whole (no Sugar): Pack berries in plastic freezer bags. Seal, label, and freeze.

Puree: Put 1 pint strawberries, 4 TB sugar and 1 tsp lemon juice in food blender and convert into a liquid. Pour into a pint jar or freezer box. Place a disc made from aluminum foil or plastic wrap over the top of puree to prevent discoloration. Seal, label and freeze.

Strawberry Fruit Leather (Strawberry Banana recipe)

4 lb. strawberries

2 bananas

4 TB orange juice concentrate

4 TB sweetener (honey, sugar, fructose, xylitol)

2 tsp lemon juice or 1 tsp. Vitamin C powder

1 ½ cups apple sauce

Wash berries. Remove caps. Put berries in blender with bananas and orange juice concentrate. Puree fruits in blender and place in large bowl. You may have to do this 2-3 times to puree all the fruit. Add sweetener, lemon juice and apple sauce and stir well. Push the mixture through a wire mesh colander to remove excess seeds if desired. Put 2 ½ cups puree mix on each dehydrator tray (14” x 14” tray). Spread mixture evenly. Set dehydrator to 135 F. Dry for 8-10 hours. Leather is done when it is pliable and leathery with no sticky spots. Roll leather while warm and place in container. Condition the leather by covering the container lightly for 2-3 days. This allows remaining moisture to evenly dissipate throughout the leather. Vacuum seal leather to increase shelf life.