Like most seasons, strawberry season happens once a year. (Thank you, Jon, for pointing out the obvious). Because of that around our house we feel the need to really cram the strawberries in. We have them at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have them pretty much any time we pass through the kitchen. At breakfast they are usually on top of whatever we are eating, at lunch as a side, and at dinner they’re often part of a salad. I even attempted making a naturally carbonated strawberry pop, but rather failed—oh it carbonated all right, but the ale yeast that I used imparted a pretty beery flavor and nobody liked it, not even me. I’m not deterred, I’ll shall try again, but either with a truly natural fermentation source, like a ginger bug, or with a less flavorful yeast source, like a champagne yeast.
We made strawberry rhubarb jam and canned 4 quarts of it (yes, that’s a gallon). Madame made strawberry sticky buns. I made strawberry ice cream. We also froze 2 large gallon-size bags of them. Then we ate some more of them. And later I think we ate more. I will probably go eat some after I type this too.
And I guess that just like asparagus season, when this season ends we will feel satisfied as opposed to sad. Later we will miss the abundance but for the time being we have so stuffed ourselves that we will be happy to move onto the next special, once-a-year fruit or vegetable!
My other favorite food season so far…. Beets!
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You nailed it–that really is one of the great joys of having a garden!
Thanks, Mom!
Guess who just went strawberry picking and was looking for a little inspiration for the baskets of strawberries that have taken over her fridge!
Awesome! I think I will have to go again this week – knowing that there are more out there in the fields just waiting to be picked, it’s hard to not go back! What do you plan to make or do with them (besides just eat tons)?
My daughter is trying to convince me to make strawberry cake again (it’s my last post), but I think I may make a strawberry tart because I (shockingly hehe) don’t have a ton left. Also making jam is not one of my skills!
Ooh, a tart would be fun! And I think the boys and I might make that cake tomorrow (I hope we have enough…).
Envy! I’ve been making preserves (jams) and conserve (whole fruits in syrup) but I love the smaller size strawberries like the one in your pictures!
Well, there’s pros and cons – the smaller ones took much longer to prepare when cutting off the tops. I do prefer them to the big ones though when I’m eating them. That’s cool that you’re doing conserves, I’ve never done much whole fruits, I’ll have to try it!
Just macerate them with dry granulated sugar (fruit:sugar, 2:1), some lemon juice and your favorite liqueur for 24-36 hours in the fridge until the juice run out. Your strawberries will get so much smaller.
After the juice is enough to cover the whole lot of strawberries (you have to push them down to see it it is enough), drain the juice out and boil the juice at high heat, then drop the heat to medium and add strawberries back to the juice in the pan. Heat it slowly until the whole content bubbling then you can can them in the jars.
They only keep 6-8 months outside the fridge unless you make the juice so concentrate, then you can keep them longer but I like mine slightly thin syrup. The consistency of the pancake syrup. …I just posted a basic jam making recipe on my blog but didn’t include the conserves recipe.
Wow, very cool! Thank you! If I go picking again I may have to try that.
I feel the same way about strawberries (and asparagus). I stopped by the St. Jacob’s market today and was told this week is the last of the season. 😦 I also got some sweet green peas, cherries, and tomatoes.
I know! I’m excited though for raspberry season which ought to be fairly soon 🙂 And then apples and pears…. I guess there’s always a departure to lament and an arrival to celebrate!