Thursday, March 27, 2008

Strawberry Preserves

Making preserves is a great way to use up your not quite perfect or leftover berries. Not that I need any special reason! This is an old fashioned way to make preserves that uses no pectin. It's quick, easy and tastes outstanding. I make mine in small batches and don't actually can these preserves, but they freeze nicely so you could double the batch if needed.
These preserves bear little resemblance to the high fructose corn syrup laden variety you buy in the grocery store. Trust me after you make them the first time, you'll never want the store bought kind again.

Ingredients
3 1-pint baskets (about 6 cups) fresh strawberries, hulled. Frozen strawberries will also work.
2 cups sugar
Lemon juice from one lemon

Method
Place hulled strawberries in heavy large saucepan and mash coarsely. Cook strawberries over medium heat until beginning to thicken, stirring frequently, about 6 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add 2 cups sugar and stir until dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil gently until mixture thickens and mounds on spoon, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes.


Skim any foam that rises to the top. You can skip this step, but your preserves will be much nicer looking without the foam. Remove saucepan from heat. Stir in the lemon juice. Cool. (Preserves can be prepared 1 week ahead. Refrigerate in airtight container.)Makes about 3 cups.
It's great on toast, muffins, over ice cream, spread between the layers of a cake, added to buttercream, or my favorite way stirred into yogurt. Mmmm.



I thought this would make the perfect entry for this month's Monthly Mingle Spring Fruit Sensations. Check out the other entries at the mingle on Eat The Right Stuff.

9 comments:

test it comm said...

I have been enjoying the strawberry jam that I made last summer throughout the winter. I just tried mixing it in with plain yogurt this morning.

Gigi said...

This was my New Years resolution! I made blackberry jam in January. I am now totally hooked on making my own. I am bookmarking this recipe for when berries are their best, hopefully at the end of next month.

Anonymous said...

Great job on this recipe-- I'm going to give these preserves a shot tomorrow night!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Great idea! I am not one to can jam, but maybe I could throw together a batch of fruit like this. Sounds great!

Patricia Scarpin said...

If I lived in the neighborhood I'd beg for a jar of this!

Anonymous said...

those strawberry yoghurt swirls look lovely - thanks for contributing this to the monthly mingle!

Rosie said...

I can't wait for the season of strawberries to come in the UK and start making my preserves.

I wouldn't just be over for a cup of sugar if I lived nextdoor I'd be aksing to buy a pot of your lovely jam :)

Rosie x

Meeta K said...

This is a classic and I love your usage in the yogurt. Thanks for the entry!

Arjun and Indira said...

I have a few questions. One-once made it is only good for one week? Two-if frozen, how long can it be frozen? Three-can I use lemon juice from bottle or does it have to be a fresh lemon? Email is adia2007@hotmail.com if you have a moment to answer, I appreciate it.