Strawberries, Part Two
June 25, 2005
6:59 a.m., MT

Music: Strawberry Fields Forever

The snolfs and I picked 14.5 pounds of berries yesterday, in under an hour and in miserable heat. We had a fairly easy time of it, though, as the berries were abundant; once a good spot was found, a quart container could be filled in just a few minutes. The berries were gorgeous, too, a lovely, deep red -- no need to pick nearly-ripe ones and hope they'd be ready for processing. Despite their complaints about the heat and the thistles that occasionally barred the way in the strawberry patch, the children had fun.

Last night I began cleaning them for the recipes -- strawberry sorbet for tonight's dessert, and strawberry preserves. My son was easily lured away from his video game by my invitation to help. He loves strawberries, and the standing arrangement for anyone who helps me cook is "cook's prerogative" -- samples of the goods being prepared. He helped quite a bit, and didn't eat as much as I thought he might. Although he's coming down with a cold, he was in high spirits, laughing and joking about the strawberries dancing in his tummy and tickling him, so it was a very pleasant way to do the highly repetitive, boring cleaning.

I did the cooking for the preserves this morning. After they've sat for a day, they'll be reheated and canned. T'was nice to have the kitchen all to myself, enjoying a quiet, overcast dawn with the hummingbirds, who mob the feeder at first light ...

I love canning, but I have a couple of gripes about it. First, almost all the recipes I've seen for jams, jellies, and the like do not include spices, even as optional ingredients. While I've nothing against the flavor of pure fruit, I prefer the more complex flavors of fruit and spice blends; but I'm a bit reluctant to experiment with adding spices, since canning recipes depend on various factors, including pH, for success. And that relates to my major gripe -- I'd like to know what the general parameters are for successful canning recipes, so that I can develop my own recipes. For example, salsa verde (the green sauce that is common atop enchiladas) is very easy to make and tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff, but it doesn't keep long. I would love to be able to can it myself, but I haven't found a recipe for it, and haven't the foggiest idea how to try to create one that won't poison us. I have only a couple of canning cookbooks, so perhaps perusing some might yield answers to my questions ... but I'd still rather do it myself.

Back to the strawberries ... as we were working last night, I kept thinking of other things that could be done with more berries: chocolate-dipped strawberries (a favorite of my mother's, which I was privileged to help make -- it isn't as easy as it sounds and she was extremely picky about who was allowed to help her) ... strawberry and lemon curd tart ... dried strawberries to be added to granola or cereal ... strawberry jam ... and of course, fresh strawberries with a bit of sugar and cinnamon. I may be making a return trip to pick some more! At just a dollar a pound for the berries ($2 if they're picked for you by the family who owns the berry patch), they're a hell of a deal, particularly since it's a free-market exchange and the berries are much better than any you'll find in a supermarket.

But, in my usual style, I'm getting ahead of myself here ... ought to finish up with the project at hand first.

Sunni

Replies: 4 people have spoken!

On Saturday, June 25th, at approximately 8:26 a.m. Mountain time, Pat said:

Sunni, if you don’t mind your kids having alcohol, I can give you two recipes that will change the flavors. Both are delicious.

1) Strawberry Daiquiri Sorbet (from Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook)

1 cup sugar
8 cups strawberries
1/4 cup light rum
2 tsp. finely shredded lime peel
1/4 cup lime juice
1 Tb. orange liqueur

In med. saucepan combine 1-1/2 cups water with the sugar, and cook, stiring over high heat till mixture comes to a boil and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool syrup completely.
Place strawberries in food processor bowl or blender container. Cover, process/blend till nearly smooth. (For best results, puree half at a time.) In a bowl stir together pureed strawberries, rum, lime peel and juice, and orange liqueur. Stir in the cooled syrup.
Freeze in 4-quart ice cream freezer according to manufacturer’s directions. [Or however you freeze ice cream.] Makes 2 quarts.

2) Strawberries Romanoff (from Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 cup heavy cream
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup curacao or Cointreau
2 qts. strawberries, washed and hulled

Put the ice cream in a 2-quart bowl and beat lightly to soften. Whip the cream till soft peaks form. Fold the cream, lemon juice, and liqueur into the ice cream. Add the strawberries and stir gently. Serve immediately.

And something different from South Beach Diet which I haven’t tried yet:

Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar

2 pints strawberries, stemmed and halved
2 packets sugar substitute [I imagine you could use the equivalent in sugar. I rarely use the substitutes myself.]
3 Tb. balsamic vinegar
coarsely ground black pepper
mint sprigs (optional)

In a medium bowl, toss strawberries, sugar substitute, and balsamic vinegar. Let stand at room temperature till ready to serve.
To serve, spoon into 4 desert bowls, grind a little black pepper over the tops, and garnish with mint sprigs.

On Saturday, June 25th, at approximately 11:42 a.m. Mountain time, Tom Hanlin said:

Canning questions... do you know of Backwoods Home magazine? It's a great resource: http://www.backwoodshome.com/

On Saturday, June 25th, at approximately 11:43 a.m. Mountain time, Sunni said:

Thanks for the recipes, Pat -- all sound very good. I've seen other versions of strawberries in balsamic vinegar, but haven't tried that yet. (Don't tell the Food Police, but the sorbet mix has some red wine in it, which I cooked down a bit to evaporate the alcohol and intensify the wine's flavors. My son got to taste it and heartily approved.)

On Sunday, June 26th, at approximately 7:09 a.m. Mountain time, Sunni said:

Hi Tom, yes, I know of Backwoods Home ... but probably don't visit there as often as might benefit me. Thanks for the reminder!

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