Strawberry Mania!

I really meant to blog about my strawberry experience last week, but alas. Better late than never! Anyway, here's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Last week, I decided to redeem my Groupon for a local orchard and strawberry patch. Don't get jealous, but get this: the Groupon was $13 for 10 pounds of u-pick strawberries. 10 POUNDS OF STRAWBERRIES! FOR THIRTEEN DOLLARS! And your grocery store is making you think you're getting a deal by paying $2.50 per pound. Anyway,

I think I set some sort of strawberry picking record, because I single-handedly picked 10 pounds of strawberries in under 45 minutes.

Here's what almost 10 pounds of strawberries looks like washed and laying out to dry (I say "almost" because at the point the photo was taken, I'd already started using some of the strawberries).


After washing the strawberries in batches and laying them out to dry on a bath towel on a card table, I set to work: freezing some, making some into jam, and leaving the rest for munching.

How to preserve strawberries by freezing:
1. Wash and dry strawberries.
2. Remove hulls (the green part). I do this by using a paring knife to cut a straight line across the top of the strawberry
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
4. Place strawberries on the baking sheet, making sure they're not touching one another. If you remove the hulls with a paring knife, this makes a perfectly flat edge to set the strawberries.
5. Place in the freezer until frozen solid.
6. Remove strawberries from baking sheet and put in a freezer bag. They will keep up to 6 months.

Strawberry Jam
I'll spare you the recipe since most people are partial to their family's recipe. Having never made strawberry jam before, I used the recipe straight from "Put Em Up!" by Sherri Brooks Vinton. She recommends in her Quick Jam recipe using Pomona's Universal Pectin, which cuts down on the added sugar in the jam. After using this pectin, I will never go back to grocery store pectins. This was my first attempt and I think it turned out pretty well!

Prepping jars and cooking the jam


The finished product

Canned Creations

My first attempts at canning have been a success in the sense that all of my jars have sealed (depressed or "innie" button). Being that it's kind of hard to stick your finger in to taste a boiling pot of syrupy water, I have yet to taste anything. So far I'm leaving it up to chance and the honesty of close friends and relatives (yes, I've already given some away as gifts).

My first canning creation was pickled jalepenos and pickled okra. I followed a simple, all-purpose-pickling recipe from "Joy of Cooking." I didn't have any pickling spice so I forged my own picling spice using what I had on hand.

Kate's Pickling Spice
1 cinammon stick
1 bay leaf
5 whole peppercorns
10 whole mustard seeds
3-5 whole cloves
5 whole corriander seeds
1 whole allspice

Place ingredients in a small swatch of cheesecloth. Tie ends together with kitchen twine. Use based on recipe.



My second canning creation was Hot Pepper Jelly. I combined concepts and ingredients from both "Joy of Cooking" and the recipe on the pectin package. Since I had an overabundance of hot peppers, I used a combination of cayenne, jalepeno, and serano peppers and did not include bell peppers. I have yet to try a sample of the finished product, but I'm sure it is HOT! My hot pepper jelly appears to have set properly, but I'm a little frustrated at its appearance nonetheless. I was hoping for more suspended solids.



I've been told I need to bottle-up my salsa recipes, and finally, I took it literally. Our tomatoes are done (as mentioned in the previous blog post), but the tomatillos keep on coming. Here's my recipe for salsa verde.

Salsa Verde
2 cups of chopped tomatillos
1 clove garlic
1 green bell pepper
2 serano peppers (seed and devein optional depending on how hot your like your salsa)
Juice from one lime
2 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 T. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Combine first 4 ingredients in a food processor. Pour mixture into a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Add lime juice, sugar, salt, and pepper. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and gently stir in cilantro. Can according to your typical process.