Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Strawberry Season


I love strawberry season! While at the market the other day, I picked up two flats of strawberries and made the following:





First was Strawberry Salsa, I haven't made this in a few years but its still as good as I remember. I like to serve it with cream cheese and crackers but its also good with poultry or pork.

Here's the recipe:
5 cups crushed strawberries
1/4 cup sweet onion,finely chopped
3 jalapenos, finely chopped
2 tsp grated lime peel
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 box light fruit pectin crystals(certo)


Measure prepared fruit and vegetables into a large sauce pan. Measure sugar. Combine fruit pectin crystals with 1/4 cup of the measured sugar. Stir pectin mixture into fruit.

Place over high heat and stir until mixture comes to a full boil. Stir in remaining sugar. Continue to cook and stir over high heat until mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Boil hard one minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim foam for 5 mnutes to prevent floating fruit. Pour quickly into warm, sterilized jars filling to 1/4 inch from rim. Seal while hot with sterilized two piece lids with new centres.




Next I made freezer or no-cook strawberry jam, there's nothing like fresh jam on scones or toast!



Then because I had some left over strawberries and chocolate I made chocolate dipped strawberries! Oh and a few dipped cherries too!





And finally I made Strawberry Soup. I got this recipe at a cooking class I took a few years ago and I view this as more of a drink. It is so good! I was only able to make one batch and the girls want more, so I feel another trip to the market coming on!





Here's the recipe:

4 cups sliced strawberries
3/4 to 2 cups water(depends how thick you want it, I used 3/4 of a cup)
1/2 cup cointreau or other orange liqueur or even rum
2 T honey
lemon juice to taste
mint leaves to garnish

Place ingredients into blender and process until smooth. Chill well before serving. Garnish with mint leaves if desired. Makes 6 to 8 servings. For a creamier soup add some unflavoured yoghurt, half and half or heavy cream. Good for 2 to 3 days in fridge.



5 comments:

Sabine Waack said...

Mhhhhh Yummie, i love strawberries too! And this sweet little tiny glasses from the second picture are so cute!

Jannett said...

great recipes....the salsa looks really interesting. :)

Rosemary said...

I will be right there for the chocolate strawberries.
Everything looks so good!

Anonymous said...

Ooh...
I think I want strawberries right now! 8)

From: Chichi11

chichi11.vuodatus.net

Andrea, said...

They look so good, especially the chocolate ones