Sunday, May 27, 2012

Canning: Strawberry Syrup

We simply have to start this post with, Yummmmmm!

Strawberry Syrup
Strawberries
Water
Sugar

Wash and cap your strawberries.  For every 6 cups of strawberries, you'll need 1 cup of water.  Put your strawberries in a large pot, mashing as you add them in, and then pour in your water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often to prevent scorching.
Set up your jelly bag, or a colander lined with two layers of cheesecloth, over a large bowl and slowly pour in the cooked strawberries.  Allow to drain fully and then refrigerate the juice overnight so any sediment will settle to the bottom.  There probably won't be much, but as with jelly, if you skip this part your syrup may end up cloudy.

The next day, ladle the juice off in a large measuring cup, being careful not to get the sediment mixed in.  In a separate bowl, measure out 1/2c. sugar for every cup of juice.
In a large pot, heat your juice to a rolling boil.
Do not skimp on pot size here.  You'll need the extra room.
Pour in your sugar.
Continue boiling until mixture is slightly thickened.  Mine took about 35-40 min.
You'll need to stir this occasionally, but since there are no pieces of fruit in it, it doesn't really stick much.
I checked the thickness by setting a small, stainless steel mixing bowl into a slightly larger bowl that had ice water in it and then pouring just a little syrup into the metal bowl.  The cold metal will bring the temp. of the syrup down quickly so you can see how thick it's getting.

Prep your canner and jars while the syrup is cooking so you'll be ready to go once it's done.
BTW - I put my washed jars on a cookie sheet in the oven, with the oven set on 225.  That's hotter than boiling water, and much easier than trying to jockey another pot or pan of boiling water around on the stove.
I know some people suggest putting the jars in the canner while it heats, and that would be fine, but I'm usually doing several successive batches of  things (I was processing jam when I started the syrup), so that doesn't usually work out for me.
Pour the syrup into to hot, sterilized half-pint jars.  Leave 1/4" headspace, wipe the rims and fit with lids and rings.  Process in a water bath canner for 5 min. once the water has reached a full boil.  Remove from canner and cool overnight.  Check for proper seals in the morning.
You'll get roughly 2 half-pints for every 6 cups of strawberries.  I started with approx. 18 cups of strawberries and lacked about 1/2" of filling the 6th jar to the proper 1/4" headspace.
But that's okay, because it tasted great on our waffles the next morning.

I've linked this post with the Homestead Barn Hop.
Check out the wonderful posts there.

I've also liked with the Carnival of Home Preserving.

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17 comments:

  1. THAT looks divine! I can't wait until the farmer's markets get some strawberries so I can do this!!!

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  2. Wow! You go all out with cooking. And everything. How are the wedding preparations coming along? Hope you will have nice weather.

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    1. From the sound of it, y'all tend to go all out for stuff too. :) It makes life exciting, doesn't it? Never a dull minute.
      The wedding preparations are going along just fine. Everything is planned out and arranged. We have a few little things to finish up and then some final appointments scheduled for the first week of the month. I've deliberately arranged for no appointments the week prior to the wedding so there will be plenty of time for last minute stuff and to make things as relaxed as possible coming up to the big day.

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  3. My daughter would be making 'strawberry milk' with this LOL. I can't wait to give this a try. I do quite a bit of canning, but can say I have never tried this ☺ Please feel free to share your recipe in our recipe hop. It is open until midnight Wed. and is a weekly event starting every Sunday at 7pm. I sure hope to see you there! Thanks for sharing ☺

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    1. I have a daughter that likes strawberry milk too. I would love to share in your recipe hop. I'll have to check out your site.

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  4. Yum. That sounds fabulous. I just popped over here from Ruby's Mumma's Place. It's nice to visit! I'm curious - why do Americans say they're canning things when they're really putting them in jars?

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    1. Thanks! I'm so glad you dropped by my site.
      As to your question, I'm not really sure, but it kind of sounds weird to refer to it as jarring. Kind of makes it sound as though you're bumping things around, but maybe that's just because I'm used to calling it canning. What do you call it Australia? And if you say jarring, go ahead and picture me with my foot in my mouth. :D

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  5. I've never thought of making strawberry syrup. I'm definitely going to add it to my list.

    As far as keeping jars hot, I just run mine through an empty dishwasher while I'm heating up the food to be canned. The jars are always hot and I've never had one not seal yet since I've been doing this.

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    1. With so many people, and so much cooking going on at my house, my dishwasher is only empty if it's not working. :)

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  6. Thank you, I've been searching for a simple strawberry sauce (syrup)recipe and instructions for bottling (canning).

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    1. Your welcome. I wish you much success when you try it.

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  7. Can you use this syrup in milk?

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  8. Although I've not tried it, I don't see why not.

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  9. Wow Becky!!!

    This is by far THE BEST recipe I have found with the most detail to directions! I will be making it this weekend, berries are ready to go - cheesecloth and jars are waiting for me at Meijer! ;) I cannot wait to make this! It looks absolutely beautiful and delicious!!

    Thank you SOOO much for sharing!!!
    xoxo
    Becca

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    1. You are very welcome. I wish you much success.

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  10. I also would like to say. This recipe is great. Have not tried it, but I am going to start it tonight. Received 30 pounds of strawberries yesterday. Love how you explained how much you needed for only 6 cups and so on. Most recipes called for more then I wanted to use. As we don't use much syrup but love to have it on hand for them days we do use. If I remember I will come back to let you know how it turned out.

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