Strawberries

What would you do with 65 pounds of strawberries? Well when 65 pounds of strawberries landed on my dinning room table last week this is what I did with them. As strawberry season is descending upon the rest of the country soon I thought you might like to use some of the ideas.

Strawberry Jam

10 cups raw whole strawberries crushed to 6 cups

1 ½ box of Pectin

4 cups sugar

Wash your jars and lids in dishwasher on extra hot/sanitize cycle

Wash & hull strawberries crush to 6 cups

Measure sugar set ¼ cup aside

Mix reserved ¼ cup sugar with pectin and cook to a full boil

Add remaining sugar & bring to a boil again for 1 minute stirring constantly

Let stand for 7 minutes and stir again

Fill jar to within ¼ inch of tops and put lids on

Process jars in a boiling water bath, keeping them covered with at least 2 inches of water at a boil for 10 minutes.

Remove and cool jars

Strawberry Syrup

6-7 cups of crushed berries

7 Cups sugar

Wash your jars and lids in dishwasher on extra hot/sanitize cycle
Take your 6-7 cups crushed strawberries and blend in blender or food processor
Measure your sugar
Heat the berries in a big pot to boiling and simmer until soft (5 to 10 minutes)
Strain the hot berries through a colander
Combine the juice with 7 cups of sugar in a large saucepan, bring it to boiling, and simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat
Fill jar to within ¼ inch of tops and put lids on
Process jars in a boiling water bath, keeping them covered with at least 2 inches of water at a boil for 10 minutes.
Remove and cool jars

Strawberry Vinegar

2 pints strawberries, rinsed, stemmed, and halved, ¼ cup reserved
1 quart cider vinegar
1 cup sugar

Combine berries & vinegar in large saucepan and let stand for 1 hour.
And sugar to saucepan and heat to a slow boil to dissolve
Simmer for 10 minutes
Strain the vinegar through sieve press out as much juice as possible
Add some of the reserved strawberries to each bottle. Fill jar to within ¼ inch of tops and put lids on. Store in a cool dark place for 2 weeks before using.

Strawberry Fruit Leather

(you know fruit roll-ups?)

8 cups of berries crushed
¼ - ½ cup of sugar

Process the berries in the blender and sweeten to taste. Put sheets of parchment paper on cookie trays. Spread the fruit puree as evenly as possibly on the trays, to between 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch thick. Dehydrate in your oven on dehydrate cycle or the lowest setting possible, with the door propped open, rotate the pans throughout the drying process to help ensure they dry evenly, to let the excess moisture escape the oven. When there are no tacky spots, the leather is dried. Drying times vary widely, depending upon the liquid content of the puree, the thickness of the puree on the trays, and temperature. Begin checking the leather after 2-3 hours. Roll them up on the parchment paper and store in gallon zipper bags.

Storage: at room temperature (in a dark place) -- three weeks

Refrigerated -- three months

Freezer -- twelve months

Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
4 cups crushed strawberries
¾ cup sugar
2cups heavy cream
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean split in half lengthwise
6 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of cream and salt in medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well. Cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl whisk egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the pan.
Stir constantly over medium heat scraping the bottom until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir in the cream. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator (if it is fully cold it will not set in the ice cream freezer) Follow the manufactures instruction on you ice cream maker to freeze, mix the strawberries into the ice cream in the last 15 minutes of churning.

Strawberry Smoothies

6 cups frozen strawberries
Flavored syrup
Vanilla yogurt or ice cream

Blend strawberries in blender; add yogurt or ice cream and flavored syrup to taste and texture.

Strawberry & Feta Salad

Spinach
Sliced strawberries
Feta Cheese
Poppy seed dressing

Strawberry & Brie Salad

Baby lettuce
Brie chopped into tiny pieces
Sliced strawberries
Caramelized almonds (recipe below)
Strawberry dressing (recipe below)

Caramelized Almonds


slivered/sliced almonds (with skin)
2 cups
 Sugar
1/4 cup
 Honey
4 tbsp 
Salt
1/2 tsp
 Water
2 tbsp
 Vegetable/Canola oil
2 tsp


Mix sugar and salt in a bowl. Heat a wide pan on medium and add honey, water, oil & stir. Allow to boil and add the roasted almonds and keep stirring and cooking till all the liquid has been absorbed by the nuts.
Immediately transfer to a bowl and sprinkle the sugar-salt mixture over it and toss so it's uniformly coated.


Spread this almond mixture on a covered baking sheet and allow to cool completely.
Tasty honey roasted nuts are ready to devour or pack and gift.

Strawberry Dressing

½ cup olive oil

1/3 cup strawberry vinegar (recipe above)
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Pinch of mined onion
1 teaspoon poppy seeds

Blend with until emulsified.