Canning prep

To continue with our theme of Ingredient of the Month – June is Strawberry month!  Soon it will be time to ‘Pick Your Own’ strawberries, but if you don’t have the time or the energy to pick your own, which happens to me a lot, just go to your local farmers market and buy a boatload.  Here is a great site to go to before getting your first batch of strawberries. It comes to us from Food 52 and it’s called 5 Links to Read Before Buying Strawberries at the Market.

How many of you pick a ton of strawberries to can and they get eaten before you can get the canning jars prepped? In my house, it becomes sport to see who can eat more strawberries without getting sick. I never would have imagined my son or husband could eat that many strawberries, but every year, I pick more and they eat more. I try hiding them, but they always sniff them out. Alas, it is always fun to eat fistfuls of strawberries with reckless abandon so I let them have at it. We’ll see what happens this year as ‘Pick Your Own’ season draws near.

When you pull out a jar of these next winter to put on your ice cream, other dessert, pancakes, or whatever you fancy, everyone will be happy they didn’t eat them all in June!

Ingredients

Fresh strawberries 
Sugar

*see quantities below under method

Method

1) Wash strawberries, remove green stems and core. Then cut into quarters.
2) Mix 1/2 cup sugar to 1 quart of strawberries.
3) Let strawberries and sugar sit until syrup forms and sugar dissolves.
4) Follow standard canning procedures which is to fill canning jars with strawberries to 1/4 inch of top, boil for 10 minutes and store for up to one year.

NOTE: More to come on canning processes, but beware that if not canned properly, the food will not be shelf stable.  Stay tuned for canning instructions or click here to get proper canning instructions.