Strawberry pie, strawberry freezer jam

Hi there! Does anyone have a tested, sure-fire method and recipe for strawberry freezer jam? A Google search returns results that are all over the board -- some involving no cooking at all, some boiling sugar or petcin then pouring over the fruit then cooling, etc.

A search here reminded me how much I miss ekreider's posts -- but did not really deliver any specific results. (Unless I am searching ineffectively which is often the case).

A thread on peaches here includes references to a product called "Fresh Fruit" which I think might be a pectin - citric acid combination. Is that correct? Otherwise, pectin and citric acid are bought as individual products?

Cathy2, several years ago, you posted that you had a case of frozen strawberries and were querying about making pies with them. Did you ever take the pie plunge, do you recall and what were the results?

I made two strawberry rhubarb pies this weekend. I used the recipe on the back of the instant tapioca box, if you can believe:

two cups strawberries
two cups rhubarb
one and a quarter cups sugar
one quarter cup instant tapioca

Stir together and let sit for ten or fifteen minutes so the tapioca disolves. Then I filled two pie shells (I used Pillsbury ready-made pie shells which are really quite good if I am pinched for time) and used the remaining two pie crust circles to make a quick lattice top for them.

That was it. The whole process illustrated, for me, the meaning of the phrase "easy as pie."

People at the lamb roast I attended scarfed those two pies down really quickly. People were impressed that someone actually made the pies. I basked in the glory but tried in vain to explain that the most impressive part of the entire process was the willingness to turn on the oven when it is 80 degrees at eight pm with 80 percent humidity. Even with the air conditioning going, this was a tough call.

Yet I was staring at a half case of Driscoll strawberries (six pints six dollars) from Jerry's and those berries had to move. I had to do something with them.

Now there are about two pints strawberries remaining, hence the plea for freezer jam help. Does anyone have any experience that you could share?

--Joy

I use the recipe that comes with Certo liquid pectin for freezer jam with the addition of a rounded teaspoon of citric acid when using the Jewel cultivar of Michigan strawberries. These Michigan berries from Mick Klug at the Lincoln Square farmers market are picked riper and so have lower acid than the usual run of supermarket berries. Without added citric acid the jam will be pretty runny even compared to the usual softer texture of freezer jam.

I understand that some California growers are finally considering flavor in choosing cultivars, so maybe Driscoll berries are no longer cosmetically perfect exteriors around flavorless pith balls. In any case no strawberry freezer jam for me until the midseason Michigan berries are available. My last jar was eaten last week and carried the essence of strawberry without the loss of volatile flavor components that is inevitable with cooked jams. Strawberries and peaches, Red Haven only please, make vastly better freezer than cooked jams. Plums and blueberries need cooking. Blackberries and red raspberries do well either way with a slight advantage for freezer.

I don't recall posting anything about jam on this board but did some on the other board a while back.

Eldon

Eldon thanks for your post! You are always very interesting and your posts are packed with good information.

In my defense, the Driscolls from Jerry's were at least pink and almost red inside, not uniformly white, but of course they were not Michigan strawberries from the farmer's market. There is no comparison for flavor. They are not even to be called the same fruit! ha ha But I had to work with what I had, including time (Pillsbury pre-made rolled pie crusts are also not as good as homemade but if I did not use them there would be no pie).

I am having trouble figuring out when the season for Michigan strawberries is. Shouldn't we be in mid-season already or am I way off? Is the strawberry season late this year due to the fluky weather? Or are people finding berries already and I am just missing them?

--Joy

Three growers (Mick Klug and Seedlings from Michigan and Huntington from Indiana) had good supplies of early strawberries at the Lincoln Square farmers market today. These early varieties are not as good as the better midseason varieties but taste mighty good after not having a fresh strawberry since last June. The recent and forecast hot weather plus long hours of sunlight will probably compress the season.

Mick sells at Green City and the Lincoln Park markets while the other two go to a fair number of Chicago markets.

Thanks, Eldon! Armed with your advice and the early berries, I will be making freezer jam this weekend. --Joy

I was inspired by the discussion here to go home last nite and make my first ever batch of strawberry freezer jam. My Indiana strawberries ended up pretty juicy -- I should have added a shot of citric acid, I guess. But it sure is pretty stuff, and my kitchen smells great! I suppose if it's too juicy I may have to use it on waffles and ice cream....mmmm.

It was so easy! I may even move on to freezer pickles this summer.

Here's my Strawberry Rhubarb pie - it's oozy because I didn't let it sit long enough before cutting it



Pie crust -
from recipe in one of Alice Waters' books - all butter, unbleached white flour with about 1/4 cup whole wheat flour mixed in.

Filling -
3 cups strawberries (from Tessa's stand next to Henry's Farm at Evanston Farmer's Market)
2 cups rhubarb (From Henry's Farm)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp each nutmeg and cinnamon
dash salt
dabs of butter

Leek, that's stunning, and I just remembered we have nothing to do tomorrow...maybe strawberry picking is in order!

Well, it doesn't actually look stunning in person (see that whole section where the crust opened and the filling oozed out?) but it is very tasty

Last weekend, we went strawberry picking at Thompson's (thanks to all the LTH'ers who suggested it). What a great way to spend a Sunday morning!







Then we spent the week making stawberry recipes.

I tried to make strawberry, balsamic, black pepper jam with this recipe but it didn't set (I guess I'll use it as sauce).






This recipe was much more successful (somewhat loose consistency--apparently it's supposed to be--delicious flavor).

Strawberry salad with marcona almonds, goat cheese, grilled scallion pesto (a riff on a Revolution Brewery salad):




Strawberry shortcake (my favorite).



We also made strawberry sorbet and strawberry pie but I forgot to get pics.

I tried to make strawberry, balsamic, black pepper jam with this recipe but it didn't set (I guess I'll use it as sauce).

I looked at the recipe, and thought that the ratio of the amount of fruit/amount of pectin called for was way, way off. I have a 49g box of pectin crystals on hand, and sure enough - the ratio called for in the standard manufacturer's jam recipe is 4 cups of fruit to 1 49 gram box of pectin crystals. In other words, the recipe calls for three times as much fruit as that amount of pectin could thicken to jam consistency. I note that one of the comments to the recipe references the runny-consistency problem, too. Damn shame. That's a lot of good hand-picked fruit to waste!

sundevilpeg wrote:

I tried to make strawberry, balsamic, black pepper jam with this recipe but it didn't set (I guess I'll use it as sauce).

I looked at the recipe, and thought that the ratio of the amount of fruit/amount of pectin called for was way, way off. I have a 49g box of pectin crystals on hand, and sure enough - the ratio called for in the standard manufacturer's jam recipe is 4 cups of fruit to 1 49 gram box of pectin crystals. In other words, the recipe calls for three times as much fruit as that amount of pectin could thicken to jam consistency. I note that one of the comments to the recipe references the runny-consistency problem, too. Damn shame. That's a lot of good hand-picked fruit to waste!

Thanks Sundevilpeg. I'm a novice so the proportions didn't seem strange to me. Do you think it's worth re-boiling the 'jam'(sauce) with more pectin (a week or so later)? It was a lot of good fruit but we went WAY overboard with picking so we had/have plenty (now frozen).

Do you think it's worth re-boiling the 'jam'(sauce) with more pectin (a week or so later)?

Hey, it's worth a shot! I used Ball liquid pectin for the last batch of jam I made, and noted that the instuction sheet mentioned that one can indeed re-process the jam just in case it doesn't set. Good to know. Just check the instruction sheet enclosed with your pectin on what to do with a do-over.

Good luck!

I made another strawberry pie this weekend with frozen strawberries from our recent picking adventure. It tasted delicious (but was a little runny). Next time I'll increase the potato starch.

Wow . . . looks beautiful thaiobsessed . . . if it's too runny for you, I'd gladly take it off your hands.

I don't like bugs, the biting kind love me. Can someone give me an idea of how much per pound these organic u-pick places are running?

BR wrote:Wow . . . looks beautiful thaiobsessed . . . if it's too runny for you, I'd gladly take it off your hands.

Thanks, BR. We managed to scarf it up even though it was runny...

pairs4life wrote:I don't like bugs, the biting kind love me. Can someone give me an idea of how much per pound these organic u-pick places are running?

Thompson's (which I don't believe has organic strawberries but I'm not positive) charges $7 for a 4 quart basket. There weren't many bugs but I got kind of stiff from stooping down to pick berries.

We used some of our frozen strawberries to make strawberry basil popsicles loosely based on Bittman's recipe with more strawberries and a little cream. We really loved these. His recipe for coconut curry savory popsicles was really vile though (I thought about putting them on the worst think I've eaten laten thread).

Rosey's Berries is organic, which means they are knee-high in weeds and you really, really need mosquito repellent...the berries weren't very good when we went - but I think that was because there was so much rain that week, not anything to do with the berries or farm itself. I thought they were cheap, too - but I don't recall the exact price.

http://www.strawberry-picking-indiana.com/