Monday, July 30, 2012

Strawberry Preserve


It’s been raining strawberries here. The season’s last lot are here now and everywhere there is a stall selling these bright red luscious fruit. We too got tempted by it many a time and indulged in them quite a bit. And then we even went picking strawberries in a farm. This was the first time for us to see strawberry farms and we were pretty excited by the fresh, big and bright strawberries. We picked to big boxes and returned home happily!


I made milkshakes/smoothies almost every other day, had them in Corner House style ‘Fresh strawberries with Ice cream and Whipped cream’, one of my favorites, ate them as is. I also made a strawberry gateau which did taste amazing, but didn’t look that amazing. So it’ll not make to the blog this time. D has made another item out of it, which actually still in the making. If it’s a success, you’ll get a guest post by him here :D. Any guesses?

And after all these, there was still left and I had to preserve them for the later, apparently dull grey days. It’s my first winter out of India, so not really sure how grey is actually the described grey! Will have to wait and see :)

So here’s how to make it…

Strawberry Preserve 

Preparation Time: 10 min plus standing time
Cooking Time: ~40 min
Makes :One small jar
Source: eCurry

Ingredients:
Strawberries - ½ kg, washed, & hulled
White Sugar - 1 Cup
Juice of half Lemon

Preparation:
  • Wash and hull strawberries. Combine berries with sugar in a large stainless steel/non reactive bowl; let stand for 3 to 4 hours.
  • Bring strawberries to a boil slowly, for about 6-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  •  Add lemon juice. Cook rapidly till it comes to a full boil, & then reduce heat to medium
  • Gently boil until strawberry mixture is clear/glassy and mixture is thick & mounds on a spoon, about 15-20 minutes. Mine took almost 25 min.
Notes:
  • Since my strawberries were large sized ones, I mashed them a bit when boiling with a potato masher
  • I’ve reduced the quantity of sugar given in source since I didn’t want the preserve to be overly sweet. It is just about sweet and is fine.

6 comments:

  1. Wow just drooling here

    Event: Dish name starts with N

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  2. oh this looks yum! I just did something similar with another fruit... where do u get some many lovely strawberries in Bangalore... The one's near my house are not so fresh and they cost an arm and a leg..

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    1. Hi Sarah! The super markets do have good strawberries in Bangalore in February. Of course they cost a bit but it is affordable if they're fresh... Some 40 bucks for a small box... BTW, these berries here were picked from a farm in Sweden... I'm in Gothenburg now :)

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  3. Love love this... Finger licking...
    http://recipe-excavator.blogspot.com

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  4. hey sums:)

    following you recent times, one day i searched in net for bitterless bittergourd curry:))) , then found your blog, tried and came out well (quite time consuming but worth it:) ) . love your writing but now a days not much scinarios:( in your recipes, i have been also in sweden for some time @stockholm, heared lot about strawberry picking ,never gone as i stayed there in winter and summer time:(( , come to the context... expecting different good receipes as usual but with a cute story outline:)) as in many of your recipes

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kiruthika!
      This is one of the best comments i have ever received... It is reviews like these that make a blogger better :) I'm glad that you like to read my stories as well. That was good to know, because i keep wondering often whether my readers will want to read things about my life as well or just see the pictures and get the recipes for the food i cook... Glad to know that there are ppl interested in my writing too!! Thats an inspiration for me now :) Thanks a ton!

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