I got my hands on a flat of strawberries and instantly knew that it was time for some preservation projects!! I froze the strawberries, made strawberry vinegar, and strawberry rhubarb jam. Yum!
Freezing Strawberries
Slice off strawberry tops. Lay strawberries in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for 24 hours. This reduces the amount of “clumping” that strawberries tend to do if you pop them in a freezer bag. Once the berries are fully frozen, simply slide them off the baking sheet and freeze them in a bag. No clumpy strawberries, and perfect for preserving those extra strawberries!
Strawberry Vinegar
Slice off strawberry tops from 2 pints of strawberries (makes about two cups). Take a 1-quart mason jar and fill it with the strawberries. Using about 2 cups of white vinegar, pour it into the mason jar over the strawberries. Let sit in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks, tasting it after 1 week to see if the strawberries have infused enough into the vinegar.
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam (the main event)
I’ve never made jam before. I used around 10 pints and a few stalks of rhubarb to give it some “complexity.” I could have heated it a bit more and got it thicker, but it tastes so good, it doesn’t even matter.
Ingredients
16 cups of strawberries
4 cups of sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice from fresh lemons
3 stalks of rhubarb
Directions
*made 11 pint jars of jam
Step 1: Prepare the Strawberries
Slice off the tops of about 16 cups of strawberries (yes, that’s a lot!). Cut large berries into quarters, small berries in half. Top with 4 cups of sugar to coat the berries. Put it all in a large, stainless steel or glass bowl (I had one with a cover that was perfect).
Mash the berries a bit with a wooden spoon to help coat the berries in the sugar and get the juices flowing.
Grab your rhubarb and slice into small slivers (about 1/4 inch each). Add that to the strawberry mixture mix it in.
Step 2: Refrigerate the berries overnight
Cover your berries and place in the fridge overnight to make all of the juices come out of the strawberries, soften up the rhubarb, and create a natural pectin. It will become very syrupy. I let mine stay in the fridge for 24 hours. When you take it out of the fridge, give it a stir and add the freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Step 3: Make your jam!
Grab a big stock pot (the biggest you have-it will boil and rise to the top!) and add the berry mixture into it. Set your burner to medium high and allow the mixture to come to a full boil, stirring so that nothing burns to the bottom. Allow to boil for about 30 minutes, until the temperature of the mixture reads 220 on an instant read thermometer (the temperature it gels at). I stopped making mine at 215, because it was thick and I was tired of stirring!
While it’s cooking, be sure to remove the foamy stuff that forms at the top. It may be tedious for a bit, but it dies down. Also mash up the berries a bit as you stir, to break it into smaller chunks. This gets easier once the berries begin to cook more.
Step 4: Canning your jam!
If you wanted to can your jam (which you should do because you have about 7 cups of jam), this is what you’d do!
When you begin Step 4, fill up your water bath to the top, line the base with your canning rack, and place all of your jars inside. Put the burner on high and let the water boil.
By the time the jam is done, the water will have boiled (turn it to a low boil when necessary).
Remove the jars from the bath, draining their water. Pour the cooled jam into the jars using your metal canning funnel. Pop on the lids/tops and boil for 10 minutes in your water bath! Let cool and voila!
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| Strawberry rhubarb jam to die for! |