“Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did”
William Allen Butler
I don’t think there ever was or can be a more luscious, a more colourful and a more passionate berry than the strawberry. It’s beautifully shaped… c’mon, how many more berries would give us perfect hearts on being cross sectioned? Each time I see them, my heart skips a beat.
I’ve done loads of strawberry stuff this season, and would have happily done loads more had I not felt guilty of dessert overdose. I think strawberries are the perfect dessert ingredient, and compliment most cheeses and tropical fruit. Strawberries in pastry, in cake, in scones, in salad, in cream, with OJ, in a parfait, as ice cream sauce …infinite options and each charmingly different in it’s own way.
With little boxes of these colourful berries flooding the market, I can’t stop myself from buying them. So I bought 4 more little boxes the other day. The daughter loves her PB and J sandwich and goes through jars of peanut butter (home-made of course as Barbara would ask…), and jam quite rapidly. She slaps on a sandwich (brown bread is the only bread I buy) when she gets back from school, and if in a good mood, does one for her ever doting kid brother too.
The other day she scraped out the last remaining bit of the store bought jam from the jar, and I knew what I wanted to make next! Most searches on the net led to the same strawberry conserve recipeso that was decided. It was a great recipe on many fronts, primarily because it doesn’t pressurise you to make the jam immediately. I made a few changes like adding a vanilla bean to bring out a slightly different flavour, using vanilla sugar instead of regular sugar, and increasing lime juice in the recipe from 2 limes to 3.
In the recipe, these very delicate and perishable fruit is layered with sugar, lime juice added and is allowed to rest for 24 hours. BLISS! Takes the pressure right off. I loved it because I was really pressed for time, and was afraid the strawberries would spoil if they weren’t put to use very soon. Next day, a five minute simmer after a boil, and rest again… and then things are pretty much under control. By day 3, I was quite eager to begin the jam making process and the conserve was finally ready! It did take about an hour on simmer before it reached setting point, but was super easy to make.
Got 3 nice jars of conserve, and am enjoying using it. Have made some delicious Double Chocolate Strawberry Energy Bars with it (yet to post recipe). Also used some in my last post of Strawberry, Chocolate & Mascarpone Cakelets. This is a nice way to preserve extra strawberries, and I dare say that if you have the time, the jam can well be made the same day like I did the Bitter Orange Marmalade here. A friend of mine makes it like I make marmalade, and it works just fine she says. I find the luxury of additional time very therapeutic in some way!
Strawberry Vanilla Bean Conserve adapted fromhere Ingredients:
1 kg of either very small strawberries or halved hulled larger strawberries
1 kg granulated vanilla sugar (or regular sugar)
1 vanilla bean, split
Juice of 3 limes (or 1 lemon)
Method:
Place alternate layers of strawberries and sugar into a bowl; add the lime juice and vanilla bean, cover and leave to stand overnight. (Make sure the bean is submerged in the liquid to help infuse well.
Next day, transfer the fruit and sugar to a pan, bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour back into the bowl, cover and leave again for another day.
Finally, transfer to a pan, bring to the boil and simmer until setting point is reached. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little until the fruit begins to sink in the syrup. Stir and pour into small, hot sterilized jars and cover immediately.
