We send a weekly newsletter focused on a single-topic related to preserving, cooking, local food, foraging, gardening or something else. Our goal with the newsletter is “to be the most useful resource in your inbox.” The newsletter includes links to many other websites with ideas sharing knowledge about the topic as well as original content, announcements and occasional contests from us as well. As an added bonus we send all subscribers the link to a file for labels that Dana hand-designed so you can print your own designer labels to decorate your jars.
This weeks theme was: Strawberries! New preservers will find everything they need to learn to preserve strawberries and veterans will (hopefully) find new ideas and great preserving ideas for the first fruit of the year! Strawberry wine, spicy preserves and recipes for beginners are all included.
INFUSING (QUICK AND EASY) RECIPES
- Strawberry-Infused Vodka (Shutterbean) A great sample of just how quick and easy preserving can be.
- Strawberry-Infused Sake (Food.Oak.Monster) If the idea of infusing vodka is a little less-than-inspiring you can always raise the stakes and change it up by using sake (I would love to drink this slightly warm).
- Strawberry-Infused Bourbon – and a Mint Julip Recipe (Cookie and Kate) This is a beautiful post that walks you through the infusion and then provides a cocktail recipe to help you use it up!
- Fruit-Infused Vinegars (MelindaLee.com) Infusing isn’t just about booze; MelidaLee has a list of fruit-infused vinegars (for ideas on using strawberries, read her recipe on raspberry-infused vinegar which ends with the suggestion that you can replace raspberries with strawberries in her recipe).
DEHYDRATING
- How to Dehydrate Strawberries (Sustainable Kentucky) I dry them much the same way as they do here (though I like to carefully use a mandolin to get slices of equal thickness).
- How to Dehydrate Strawberries in an Oven (An Edible Mosaic) We frequently get questions on how to dry food without a dehydrator. It is possible to do in the oven (as you’ll see in this post) but it can kill some of the nutrients and healthy micro-organisms that are are preserved at lower temperatures.
- Strawberry Fruit Leather (Baked by Rachel) I love making roll-ups and Rachel walks you through everything you need to know – plus her photos are simply stunning!
FREEZING
- Four Simple Methods for Freezing Strawberries (Simple Bites) A great post from Aimee on freezing strawberries that covers all the angles.
FERMENTED
- HomeMade Strawberry Wine (Ed Kraus) I chose this recipe because it’s incredibly comprehensive and written for the absolute newbie to country wine.
- Cultured Strawberry Soda (Holistic Squid) Ferment your own pop! Here’s a fantastic recipe to help you get started (we ferment sodas like this every few week and love the endless possibilities that summer flavours bring).
- Home Fermented Strawberry Vinegar (Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking) Kate is an absolute pro when it comes to fermenting and we love her and what she does. This is an awesome idea (and includes a groovy picture of her vinegar mother which is awesome and other-worldly at the same time).
WATERBATH
- Canning 101 and Making Strawberry Jam (The Pioneer Woman) If you’ve never preserved before, this is a great place to start. It’s a straightforward strawberry jam. As much as I like to experiment with flavour, there is little better than strawberry jam.
- Canning Class: Strawberry Jam that Works (Cathy Barrow (aka Mrs Wheelbarrow) in The Washington Post) Strawberry jam can be tricky to ‘get right.’ Cathy walks you through the theory on how to get it right (and don’t miss her link to a recipe to guide you through the process).
- Mint Pickled Strawberries (Snixy Kitchen) Mint and strawberries are a great combination; the idea of pickling the two of them with red-wine vinegar just excites me!
- Pickled Green Strawberries (Shared Appetite) Caraway, celery, mustard and more are combined to make a green strawberry pickle! I love the idea of using unripe fruit as I think you’d get a firmer pickle.
- Strawberry Whole Berry Preserves (Local Kitchen) We make a batch similar to this every year. Whole berries in syrup. They are just an awesome ingredient (and the syrup is just as great).
- Strawberry Preserves: Tellechri & Smokin’ (Hungry Tigress) Strawberry preserves (not jam; she explains the difference) which are brilliantly set by using gooseberries for pectin. And, in true Tigress style, also packs some spicy heat.
- Strawberry Serrano Pepper Preserves (Honest Fare) Another preserve – and another with heat! I’m loving the ideas of spicy strawberry preserves to warm some winter nights.
- Strawberry Thyme Jam (Marisa McClellan on TheKitchn) An unexpected twist (thyme) takes the traditional recipe in a different direction.
- Strawberry jam with Mint, Basil and Habanero (Local Kitchen). I promise this is the last spicy one – but I love spicy things and I adore anything Kaela cooks. I also like that she used her homemade apple pectin for this recipe!
- Small Batch Strawberry Jam recipe (Cooking Up a Story) A great reminder that preserving doesn’t need to be an odyssey. 3 cups of strawberries are combined with 2 other ingredients (a third optional one is listed) to make a quick-and-way preserve.
