Today I want to teach you how to make the hardest and the easiest thing in my Grandmother's recipe book.
Ryan and I made this recipe back in October when we ere staying in Oklahoma. There is another receipt for pear preserves, Ryan made that one, while I worked on this one. I burned the strawberry preservers terribly when I made it. When we tried to make it a second time I refused and I had Ryan do it for me. I have since mastered it.
But the key to making these preserves is that your stove doesn't get too hot. We were able to make the preservers with the stove set very high (even though we kept the temperature on low), but we had to be constantly vigilant with our staring (Harry Potter reference anybody?). We later learned that you can adjust the temperature range on the stove to make it so it's not quite so hot. This makes everything easier. It's also easier to just simmer things as well. Anyways, keep that in mind.
Strawberry preservers were not a thing I thought people made. Like, I know that they are made, but it just seemed out of reach to me. I'm not sure why. But, once you master the stirring and the stove temperature they're lovely and it's a great addition to like any piece of bread ever.
You'll start the preserves by washing and slicing the strawberries. I sliced them pretty thinly, but I don't think that there's a right or wrong answer. When Ryan made them the second go-round his were a lot thicker than the first time I sliced them. Drain them as much as you can. Fi
In a big pot, like a for real big pot, it gets foam-y, so you'll want a bigger pot than you think you'll want, put the strawberries along with 2 Tbsp. white vinegar or lemon juice. We used vinegar because we had it on hand, we've since used lemon juice, both are great, you really cannot taste the difference you just need the acid. Cover this and let it reach boil, I know that feels weird since there's not much liquid there, but trust me. Let it boil for one minute.
After that 1 minute you'll want to add 1 cup of sugar for each one cup of strawberries. If you followed the directions and used a pint of strawberries that means you'll want to add 2 cups. If you've doubled it or halved it math it out accordingly (for reference 1 pint = 2 cups, yay America).
You'll want to bring this to a boil again and stir with a wooden spoon. The wooden spoon bit I think is an old wives tale, but we didn't test it out. There's a lot of old wives tales about not using plastic because it wasn't as pure, anyways, we didn't really test it, I found a wooden spoon and went with it. This is where your stove temperature matters. Stir this for 30 minutes. The recipe says "stir occasionally" but if your stove is too hot, stir it constantly. When I burned it I "stirred occasionally" when Ryan didn't bur it he stirred constantly. So watch your stove temperature.
You'll want the berries to reach 14 degrees above the boiling point for your elevation. Which is very specific, but go with it. My Grandmother lived in Dickinson, Texas, which is why the recipe talks about the temperature from Dickinson. I thought it was neat, so I left it in the text, your temperature will probably be higher, Dickinson is basically at or below sea level.
When you're done, after the 30 minutes and after you reach that temperature, then skim the foam off.
If you're into canning you can can it at this point. Canning terrified me, it just seemed like a wonderful way to get botulism and I wasn't quite prepared to learn that skillset yet, so we just put it in a fridge safe container and ate it quickly. :)
Enjoy!
STRAWBERRY PRESERVES
COOK TIME | 35 MINUTES
Ingredients
1 pint large strawberries – sliced, washed, and drained
2 Tbsp. white vinegar or lemon juice
1 cup sugar for each cup of strawberries
Instructions
Combine strawberries with vinegar.
Cover the above mixture with lid and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat and add 1 cup sugar to each cup of berries.
Boil (stirring with wooden spoon) for about 30 minutes (cook until thermometer is 14 degrees above the boiling point of water at your elevation; 226 degrees at Dickinson).
Skim off foam, pour into sterilized container, and seal.
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