Monday, June 25, 2007

Fruits of our Labor

Monday's Work:60 lbs of berries picked,

hulled,
washed,
mashed and stirred.

Winter's Reward:20 (2 pint) containers of whole berries
Recipe: Make 1 batch of Sure-Jell Strawberry Jelly and pour over cleaned and washed 18 cups of whole berries. Put into preferred containers, allow to sit out for 24 hours, then freeze.
Family Uses: Our favorite fruit salad - 1 container of strawberries, thawed, 1 can pineapple, cut bananas.
Adult Uses: In a blender filled with ice and desired amount of rum, add about half a container of strawberries, and about a third to a half jar of jelly. Blend, and enjoy an absolutely delicious daiquiri.24 and 1/2 pints of freezer jam
I have always made the regular sure-jell recipe and this year decided to try some of the less-sugar added sure-jell. The jars on the right (10 total) are the regular and the jars on the left (14 1/2 total) are the sure-jell in the pink box.

Tonight's Treat:
Need to learn to make your own crusts (absolutely worth it!)? Look here for a step by step pictorial lesson.

6 comments:

Melynda said...

Can we come over for a visit sometime soon?

Anonymous said...

Mmmm. . .yummy!!!! Strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit! :) I'm losing hope of picking any this year though, my little guy is too little to stay out of mischief while the big kids & I pick.

Elizabeth said...

Oh, my! That is a LOT of strawberries. I'm not sure if I'm jealous or worried that we'll get that many next year. :)

Rev. Rick Stuckwisch said...

Very tantalizing! You're pictures are enough to make us want to crawl through the screen into your kitchen. Those pies at the end of it all look especially tasty. No fair teasing!

Glenda said...

When can you be here Melynda?

If you want to drive north Angie, I'll watch your children and you can pick here. This is the last week, maybe next for the berries.

Elizabeth, I picked these at a berry farm north of here. This is my third year to pick there. I'm grateful to even get the berries, the owner stopped to talk and the fields were hit 4 different times with hail. We had to watch for slugs and it took longer to pick. Usually we arrive at the field at 6am and pick that many berries in little over a half hour. This year, it took us (David, Hannah, and I)a good hour. But oh it was worth it. The berries taste so good and we really enjoy strawberry jam and fruit salad and daiquiries all winter long.

Pr. Stuckwisch, those pies were tasty! I only make strawberry pie once/year, on the day of picking. Oh what a nice treat to look forward to each spring. This year I wisened up and made two because one pie doesn't allow for seconds in a family the size of ours. ;-)

Presbytera said...

I'm so sorry I read this blog post on Tuesday -- I know there won't be any leftovers by the time I get there. Oh well, I'll have to content myself with the strawberries which we will pick this Thursday. I'm taking 2 grandddaughters along to do the pickin' since I can't kneel.

I'll have to give the pink box a try and thanks for the favorite fruit salad recipe. I drooled when I read that!