What We Did with Our Strawberries

Last Monday Lisa, Ryan and I took the kids to a strawberry farm for some good 'ol pickin' fun.  While many berries went directly from farm to stomach, Ryan and I got what amounts to about 16 cups of strawberries and I thought I'd share with you the wonderful things we've made with them. 

So, what have I been doing with 16 cups of strawberries?  Hulling, hulling and hulling!

And that's only 4 cups worth

                                          
Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam
From Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Makes about six 8-oz jars

I make this every year (I've been strawberry picking 4 years now) and it never seems to last us the whole year.  It's so good that we are upset when we run out and have to buy stuff from the store.  This year I made a triple batch (18 jars!) and we are hoping that after we give away a few to our families, we'll still have enough left to get us through until next strawberry season comes around.

2 cups crushed hulled strawberries
2 cups chopped rhubarb
4 T lemon juice (about 1/4 cup)
1 package regular powdered fruit pectin
5 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1.  Prepare canner, jars and lids.  (I'm not going into how to can these here, but you can find more information about canning from this website or send me a message.)
2.  In a large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine berries, rhubarb and lemon juice.  Whisk in pectin until dissolved.  Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.  Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and skim off foam.
3.  Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot jam.  Wipe rim.  Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tip tight.
4.  Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.  Remove canner lid.  Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Yum!

                                         

Other things we've made from my two favorite food blogs:
Strawberry Clafouti - This was a delicious dessert for us two nights.  Very simple to make, but takes a little bit of time in the oven.  We recommend that you eat warm - it wasn't as good the next day when we had it cold.  And I learned how to say clafouti (clah - foo - tee).

Strawberries & Dumplings - I made this for breakfast yesterday morning.  Although I didn't exactly follow the directions (I left out lemon juice because I didn't have any and cooked it over too high of heat on accident), we decided we will still try this again.

Strawberry-Infused Vodka - While I'm a much bigger fan of gin and bourbon than vodka, once I thought of this with some fresh lemonade, I couldn't pass it up.  The strawberries are infusing right now and I can't wait to try this.  The blogger recommends not eating the strawberries after they are infused, but I think I might freeze them to add as ice cubes in the drinks (as suggested in the comments).  Sorry preggos - I can make this again next year when prohibition is over.