Recipe: Sunny strawberry-Meyer lemon preserves without added pectin
Strawberries macerate in sugar before they are quickly cooked into a small batch of lemony-sweet preserves. Debbie Arrington
Sometimes I have the urge to make jam but not too much – especially if I have limited fruit. These easy preserves take only 1 pound of strawberries, 2 cups of sugar and one Meyer lemon – no added pectin necessary.
Compared to jam, preserves have larger pieces of fruit – even whole small berries. Larger strawberries are quartered or sliced.
This recipe does take a little advance planning. To bring out their juice, the strawberries need to sit in the sugar for six hours (or overnight). This process helps the berries retain their bright red color.
Added just before cooking, the Meyer lemon juice and zest add a bright, sunny note to the berries.
The result is soft and spreadable. Keep the finished preserves in the refrigerator.
Sunny strawberry-Meyer lemon preserves
Makes about 1 pint (2 cups)
Ingredients:
1 pound strawberries, washed, hulled and quartered (about 2 cups)
2 cups sugar
Zest of 1 Meyer lemon
2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
Instructions:
In a large stainless steel or non-reactive bowl, mix strawberries with sugar. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours (or overnight), stirring occasionally.
Transfer berries, sugar and syrupy juice to a large heavy pot. (It needs room to bubble.) Add lemon zest and juice.
Over high heat, bring strawberry mixture to a boil, stirring often so it doesn’t stick or burn. Let boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium and let preserves simmer, stirring often, until desired consistency (about 10 to 15 minutes).
Remove from heat and transfer to a sterilized jar or other container. Cover and store in the refrigerator. May be frozen up to 6 months.
When is jam (or jelly or preserves) ready? To test consistency, freeze a small plate in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Spoon a ½ teaspoon of preserves onto cold plate and return it to freezer. Check in 2 minutes. If the jam/jelly/preserves doesn’t run when the plate is turned sideways, it’s done.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
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March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.