It's strawberry time! Our favorite local u-pick farm just opened up for picking and I got decent (priced and flavor) berries at Aldi last week. One of my favorite things about summer is the amount of wonderful fresh produce (and by that I mean fruit and corn on the cob) we can get. There isn't much variety or freshness to our fruit eating in the winter but by summer we are nearly drowning in all kinda of fresh fruits and it is amazing.
I am not only buying strawberries for immediate eating (although I am doing that too), but also to save up a bunch to use in the coming months in a variety of ways. My strawberry buying always starts with me overloading the cart and then getting home and realizing I have to do something with all these berries. Strawberries aren't the easiest of the fruits I buy like this (that would be blueberries) but they aren't the hardest either (that's peaches). A little time, some of which I can do at the backyard picnic table while the boys play, and we get to spread out our strawberry enjoyment a little bit longer.
Here's what I do with them besides immediately eat and enjoy:
1) Freeze them
One of the easier things to do with strawberries. I wash many pounds up, hull them, slice the bigger ones into small pieces and freeze dozens of old sour cream containers of them in the deep freeze. The key is remembering to defrost my deep freeze before starting on strawberries because afterwards there is no hope of it getting done for another 11½ months.
These frozen strawberries we will use in smoothies, mixed drinks, and a family favorite, strawberry applesauce come fall. It is crucial to have A LOT of frozen strawberries on hand for that one.
Strawberry ice cream is one of Matt's favorite flavors and so when I have good, fresh strawberries I make a couple of extra batches for the freezer. These might last until the end of the summer, depending on how much I make and how many other kinds are competing to get eaten. It certainly doesn't last all year (we only have so much freezer space) but it is one we stock up on a bit when we have good berries.
Likewise, these strawberry popsicles are a family favorite and while they are bursting with freshly picked strawberries they also have sugar but not a ton of sugar and I don't feel bad giving my boys these as dessert (or a snack). These never make it until the end of the summer, I only have so many molds and lots of popsicles competing for them, but I tend to fill all the molds I have with these when we have fresh berries.
4) Make strawberry jam
Sam has been on a real PB&J kick for months now and he likes the homemade strawberry jam so much that I caught him drinking it a few weeks ago (it is really good). I buy pectin from the store and follow the directions on the box. It's nothing fancy but a few batches will last us all winter. Matt & Luke pretty much only eat peanut butter on Fridays in Lent but they'll use this on toast or waffles/pancakes too. Super easy way to keep everyone happy.
NOW, if you are looking for other strawberry recipes, I've got you covered, at least mixed drinks and ice cream/popsicle wise. I also rarely turn down strawberry shortcake although I've never posted a recipe for it! It is one of the delights of strawberry season!
Desserts:
Frozen Things:
Mixed Drinks type:
That's what I do with the plethora of strawberries that come home with me in the summer. Do you have any great recipes or ways of using them to share? I'd love to hear! Happy strawberry season!
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