We’ve been blessed with tons and tons of fresh strawberries this summer!!! Some of you have been asking what I do with all of them.
This was what we picked the first time.
We went back three more times!!
First…we eat as many fresh ones as we can. There are only a few weeks during the year that we can do this, so we’re not holding back!
Second, I’ve been flash freezing them (shew, I think I’m almost done now!). I have enough in my freezer now to last me the year (at least)!
Third, I cooked some of them down and made a “strawberry spread” of sorts. I didn’t want to add sugar or pectin to make a jam, so I just experimented with straight strawberries. It’s a little tart…but we like it on toast just fine. I only made one small batch of this, because we really just like strawberries fresh or frozen better!
Now…here’s a list of all the other yummy things I like to make with fresh or frozen strawberries…
- Strawberry-peach slushies (our favorite way to eat the strawberries!)
- Strawberry-kefir smoothies
- Strawberry yogurt
- Strawberry-yogurt fruit dip
- Strawberry cheesecake
- Strawberry shortcake
- Strawberries on whole wheat waffles
- Strawberry milkshake
- Strawberries and cream (either whipped or just poured over the berries!)
- Fruit salad
- Strawberry bread (several of you have requested this recipe…I actually don’t have a recipe because my friend made it for us and brought it over. I’ll try to get it for you! And for me!)
- Strawberry ice cream (just crush strawberries in a blender and add to ice cream mix)
- Strawberry rhubarb pie (a great recipe in the FREE pie ebook!)
What am I forgetting here? What are some of your favorite ways to eat strawberries?! Besides just…you know…eating them.
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This post is linked to Tammy’s Recipes.
We make jam without pectin and without sugar. :)
You can use Pomona Pectin, which isn’t truly pectin.. it actually uses calcium water to make the citrus pectin gel. I buy straight up citrus pectin here because I’ve yet to find the Pomona’s here. Anyway, you can find recipes on their webpage for using fruit juice, honey, sugar, or other ingredients to sweeten the jam with.
For us, I use stevia powder (the white extract) for making raspberry, strawberry, and blackberry jam. However, blackberries can be quite tart so I find that we need to add a bit of purple grape juice to them.
The only thing is, at least with using straight up Citrus (or you can use agar-agar or gelatin I’ve done it with both of those as well) is that you do have to keep the “jam” in the fridge or it spoils VERY quickly.
Dipped in chocolate!!! :-)
Love strawberries!!!
Oh I wish I had a lot of strawberries in my kitchen!
The best thing to do with strawberries is to put them on top of a pavlova!
Definitely dipped in chocolate!!! And of course in fruit salads, milkshakes, etc.
Laura, have you ever tried to grow your own strawberries? My mom always grew her own. She only grew strawberries and tomatoes, my grandfather was the BIG gardener in the family. But he had to stop once he got really sick.
I love to make freezer strawberry jam. So yummy on homemade bread. This is a great way to get that fresh strawberry fix during the winter months as well.
Yippee!!! Going strawberry picking this week! I freeze mine as well and make a batch of preserves. However, I have several jars of strawberry jam from last year’s harvest that I don’t want to make too much more. Raspberries and tart cherries come to MI July 1st!
We picked 43 pounds of strawberries this year. It took me over 2 days to process them all but I love having that many berries ready to eat all year.
I tried stevia this year. I used pectin still though.
I made these incredible strawberry muffins last week. SO delicious. I used half whole wheat flour and they turned out perfectly.
http://nancysrecipes.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/fresh-strawberry-muffins/
I make a lovely Spinach, Strawberry, Walnut Salad with Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette . . . :) Delicious, Healthy, and Refreshing!
My recipe for strawberry bread comes from the Simply in Season cookbook. Soooooo good! I just made two loaves last night!
How many strawberry plants do you have to produce such a bountiful crop?
Laura picks from other people’s crop so she isn’t sure how much you would need to plant. :)
Each plant when it gets going will produce about a quart. So far this year I have picked 108 quarts. I need another freezer. :)