Nicole Elsasser

Strawberries can inspire affection, mania and excitement in eaters like no other fruit or vegetable. Perhaps it’s that their arrival signals the true beginning of the food season. It seems that as soon as local strawberries appear in markets, the other wonderful produce is never far behind. Or maybe we just all love strawberries. They are pretty much the best. Regardless, now is the time when vendors selling quarts of beautiful sweet strawberries will see lines of people eager to get their hands on the stuff. I was one of those people this past weekend. Once in front of the strawberry stall, I succumbed to their beauty and bought way more than I had intended. Once home, I now faced one of the most delightful dilemmas a person can have: what to do with all the strawberries? Of course, washing and then eating a handful right out of the basket was mandatory. Then the next thing that came to mind was how lovely strawberry jam is when spread on a piece of hot toast. What I ended up doing was something in that vein. While the strawberry preserves below would be great with ice cream or yogurt, I really enjoy spooning them on top of toast with a smearing of cream cheese on it. It’s similar to strawberry jam but with larger chunks of strawberries to make it more fun.

Recipe for Classic Strawberry Preserves

3 lbs strawberries, rinsed and hulled

1 ½ cups of sugar

3 tbsp strained fresh lemon juice

Combine the strawberries and sugar in a bowl, toss so that the sugar is distributed throughout the strawberries and cover. Place bowl in the fridge over night. The next day, carefully transfer the contents of the bowl into a large pot. Bring to a simmer, stir gently and cook in this way for five minutes. Pour into a colander and set over a large bowl. Return the juice to the pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the syrup is reduced to 1 ½ cups. This will take about 15 minutes. Return the strawberries and any accumulated juice to the pan, along with the lemon juice and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring often, until the strawberries appear glossy and are very tender but still hold their shape, about 20 minutes. With a metal spoon, carefully skim off as much of the foam as you can, then remove from the heat and stir carefully for a few seconds to make sure there is an even distribution of fruit and syrup. At this point you could ladle the preserves into half pint jars and process them using the boiling water canning method for five minutes but I suggest you simply put the whole mixture in a sealable container and place it in the fridge. It’s so delicious; it will be gone before you know it.

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