Strawberry Preserves

I just adore Fall days like today. Days when I have the house to myself and all these ideas running through my head. Days that I start to plan and think about the upcoming holidays. I've been pondering different homemade gifts lately. I like the idea of giving something from the heart that was made with love. The holidays have become too commercialized and I don't want that for me or my family. I want Christmas to be about being "home" with those you love. It's not the gifts that make it special it's the food, and the drinks and the conversations and who you are spending it with. Gifts are great, don't get me wrong but the last few years I've racked my brain to find the "perfect" gift for everyone and I didn't realize what that gift was until I received it last year. My co-worker made me a wonderful basket filled with all these homemade things that she put together. Including the basket which was made out of card stock. I think that gift excited me the most. To think that someone took time, genuine time, to make this gift made me realize it's not what's in it; it was what was in her heart when she gave it to me. In her basket was some dry rub, lemoncello, biscotti and a cookbook. All of which she put together herself. I wish I had a picture of it to show you guys. It was simply adorable and I appreciated it so much so that I remember bragging to my family about how she made it all. I was so impressed by her talent and her gift. 

Today I made some strawberry preserves, just one of the homemade gifts I plan to give this holiday season. I have a few other ideas in mind and just placed an order from Hobby Lobby that should get me going on my next big idea. Here's the recipe for the strawberry preserves should you want to try to make it yourself. Stay tuned for more homemade gifts to come. 

Strawberry Preserves

Ingredients:

For the preserves:

2 cups of strawberries holed & smashed (usually 3 regular size packages)

1 cup of white granulate sugar

1 tablespoon of pectin

3 tablespoons of lemon juice (I prefer the bottled type for this recipe.)

For the canning process:

1 large pot with lid or a canner filled with water

1 medium size pot 

1 set of canning utensils. You can find these on amazon for about $10-15. 

4 pack of Ball Mason Jars 8 oz size

Directions:

Prepare Jars

- Wash jars and lids thoroughly. (You cannot skip this part even though you may think you can.)

- Remove lids and place jars and lids in the large pot of water. Simmer on low. 

- Remove from water with canning tongs and set aside

- Do not drain hot water. You will need this for last step. 

Prepare Preserves

- Smash the strawberries with a potato masher or a hand blender or both. I prefer to use both to give different textures to the preserves.  

- In the medium pot combine the strawberries, lemon juice and sugar together. Stir over medium heat till the sugar is dissolved. 

- Add pectin and bring to a slow boil

- Let boil on medium heat for approximately 10 minutes. The mixture will start to slowly thicken and a pink foam will appear on top. 

- Once the pink foam appears the mixture is typically done. You will now ladle the mixture through the funnel into the jars filling almost to the top. 

- Use the space tool to remove any bubbles in the mixture. Fit with lid and seal tight

Canning Directions

- Put the filled jars in the hot water bath filled at least 1 inch over jars. 

- Put lid on the pot. 

- Simmer jars on a slow boil for 10 minutes.

- Using tongs remove jars. Make sure seals do not move. (You shouldn't hear a pop sound when you touch the top of the lids. Do not touch until out of water for a while. TOO HOT!)

- Set hot jars aside. Check lids 24 hours later to make sure they don't pop. If they don't you did the recipe right and you can label and store jars. 

Happy Canning!!