Sunday, April 22, 2012

Strawberries Everywhere!

Our local farmer has strawberries in season right now. Their stand is not open,  but they are picking strawberries and you can go pick them up or they can deliver them. That is awesome!

I ordered 2 flats of strawberries.  My plan was to make some preserves or jam and freeze some, and eat some!

The strawberries were delivered to my house amidst a VERY busy church meeting weekend.  We had church Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend along with breakfast, lunch and supper. So that meant lots of cooking and lots of being at the church.

The strawberries were perfect though, VERY ripe! Friday night I realized I better do what I needed to do or else they would go bad and I would lose the money I paid.

So I made a double batch of jam. Well that only took 4 baskets of strawberries.  (Please excuse I-photos, my camera batteries died).


Since I still had so many strawberries, I looked up canning strawberries.  It was very simple, so I did that.  You just wash them, cut off the stems and put them in a pot with sugar poured on top. Let them sit for a few hours, then heat them up and put them into the jars.  I can't wait to use them.


After canning some of them, I decided to do some freezing.  We washed them, then cut off the tops.  We put some wax paper on a cookie sheet, then spread the berries on top and stuck them in the freezer for a few hours. When they were frozen, we put them in freezer bags.  My daughter and I love to use frozen strawberries instead of ice for summertime drinks. Really helps with drinking water too. Makes it taste great :)



And after all of that, I still have 2 baskets left.  I was feeling a little overwhelmed with it, but I know that I will be glad that I got this many and went ahead and put them up. 

Looking forward to preserving a bunch more this summer, and hopefully several things from my yard :)  Currently have some blackberries in the pot with sugar on them to preserve tonight.


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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 23, 2012 at 7:41 AM

    I recently discovered a great way to extend the life of strawberries in the fridge. My family just couldn't eat them fast enough before they went bad. First, wash your strawberries in a bowl with 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar. (I just put some water in the bowl and add a splash of vinegar). Swirl them around, drain, rinse, drain and pat dry. The vinegar kills the bacteria on the strawberries from the dirt. Then put the strawberries in mason jars and vacuum seal them. Mine have lasted 10 DAYS without spoiling. Head over to the Salad in a Jar blog. She has a video that shows an inexpensive way to vacuum seal mason jars without the pricey Foodsaver machine. After I contacted her with a few ideas, she will be doing another video and giving further tips and tricks soon. Watch for it!
    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 23, 2012 at 8:08 AM

      Hi, Kelly! Our strawberries are not in yet. I am fighting the urge to drive two hours to get some! I can't wait to put up some strawberries.

      Thank you for visiting our blog.

      :)Vicki

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  2. Anne BirdsongApril 23, 2012 at 8:27 AM

    Hi Kelly,my name is Anne and I found your blog through the Barn Hop. I pinned your ideas for using strawberries in season onto Pinterest.

    Love for you to pop over to my blog Life on the Funny Farm sometime to say hi, if you get the chance! I'm at http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.com.

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  3. KellyApril 23, 2012 at 11:14 AM

    Thanks for visiting guys and thank you for the tip on making the strawberries last longer!

    Thank you Anne, I will take a look at your blog too :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. CherylMay 2, 2012 at 9:34 AM

    I have never tried canning strawberries. I do can blackberries and raspberries. I will have to try some this year.

    Have a wonderful day.

    ~Cheryl

    ReplyDelete

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