Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Putting Up: Vol 3


My final recipes for putting up strawberries if for a Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate. I found this recipe and wanted to try it since it's a little more fun that just a traditional jam or something.
This is also very simple but I did CAN it rather than freeze so it's a bit more work. For this you just need pureed strawberries, lots of lemon juice and sugar. You cook it to 190 degrees and then ladle into ball jars. Cap and band and then process for 15 min. This makes an adorable gift and I've already given three away. I think next year I will make more :)
If you have questions or want exact recipes for any of these strawberry posts I'd be happy to share. Just let me know.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Angel Food Cake

The perfect compliment to the strawberry sauce I made was an angel food cake. I looked into a few recipes and learned a couple of tips along the way.

It came out perfect and blew any store bought version or box mix out of the water. Homemade is definitely the way to go.

So here are some important things to keep in mind in order to end up with the perfect angel food cake.
1. Place sugar in a food processor for 2 min before using. This will create "super-fine" sugar and makes that melt in your mouth feel.
2. Egg whites MUST be at room temperature.
3. Beat Egg Whites to medium peaks and sift flour over egg whites a little at a time, folding gently to incorporate.
4. Do NOT grease pan.
5. Absolutely, most definitely DO take the time to make it yourself. It is well worth the effort.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011

Putting Up: Vol 2

The second recipe I attempted with my flat of Strawberries is a beautiful Strawberry Sauce. Here's what you need...

Strawberries

Sugar

Almond Extract (The smell while this was cooking was absolutely intoxicating)
Cook,Cool, Blend, Cool some more, Freeze.

Are you wondering what to do with it? The possibilities are endless. Think Waffles,Crepes, Ice cream, stirred into Lemonade...
What did we test it on? Check back and I'll show you! Let me just leave you with one word, "Yum".

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Putting Up: Vol 1

This year I have high hopes of preserving as much of the summers bounty as I can. Hehe, get it? As I CAN? Okay, bad joke. Anyway, I do plan to do a lot of canning/freezing so we can enjoy summers yumminess all year long.

Strawberries are officially ready and that means it's time to start on my preservation adventure. So, tonight I started with the really easy process of making freezer jam.
In case you havn't tried it before here's a few photos to show you how easy it really is.

Just combine Strawberries and sugar and mix.

Then, cook surejell with water on stovetop for 1 min.

Stir hot pectin into fruit and stir mixture for 3 more minutes.

Funnel into jars, lid and band jars.

Let the pretty little jars sit on the counter for 24 hours and pop into the freezer. That's it. I know, right! So much simpler than I imagined the process to be. This is my 3rd year making jam and my family loves it. It's so much better than store bought. So, go ahead. Run out and get some beautiful berries and tell yourself..."Of course I can can!"