I start dreaming of strawberries in January, so my family gets very excited when they finally arrive in May! We eat whatever is fresh and in-season (easy to do when you live in NC!). This year, we made homemade strawberry honey, homemade strawberry jam, homemade strawberry kiwi jam, homemade strawberry ice cream, homemade strawberry milk and strawberry shortcake, all in two short days. I love the tradition of getting local organic strawberries every year, then making all of these delicious strawberry dishes!
When you make jellies and jams with the seasons, you know exactly what you’re eating, you know it’s fresh and you know its origin. ‘Canning’ is really not that hard. It does take some prep time and some planning, and it’s helpful (and more fun) to do this with a friend – I do this with my mom. But it’s truly not hard. And pulling out jars of your homemade jam to eat all year long…that’s a fantastic feeling.
My grandmother, Mama Lois, made this recipe when I was growing up. I believe it’s the easiest canning recipe we do. We use our strawberry honey (heated up or at room temperature) on pancakes (in place of maple syrup) and on ice cream. We stir it into plain greek yogurt to sweeten it. It’s a deliciously sweet strawberry syrup, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Canning Tools:
I use this Serrated Tooth Edge Manual Food Chopper to chop strawberries, nuts, cabbage, and more. It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools! (Do not use a food processor, it does not work.)
Here are the mason jars I like to use. Please note, Ball and Kerr jars are available at Kmart, Target, grocery stores, etc. When you start looking for them, you see them everywhere. It’s great to start canning with jars that come with their own lids. Because I do this every year, I recycle the jars by using them as drinking glasses for the family or I buy the plastic twist-on lids and store leftovers in them. When I have enough jars, I save them for making jellies and jams next year, then I buy the lids separately. (Note you can reuse the rings repeatedly but the sealed lid needs to be replaced every time you make a jar of jelly or jam.) I also sometimes buy the lids with rings included, if needed.
I use hot pads to get the hot jars out of the oven, a funnel to pour the hot liquid into the jar and a magnetic lid lifter to get the lid out of the boiling water.
- Prepare the jars and lids: -Take the rings off of the sealing lid and put aside. -Put sealing lids in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. (The lids need to come to a boil and they're sanitized. You can prepare these early then boil later.) -Rinse and/or wash jars and put in the 200 degree oven upside down.
- Prepare your freshly picked strawberries: -Thoroughly rinse strawberries under cold running water. -After rinsing, cap strawberries and put in a very large pot. -Chop strawberries using a Serrated Tooth Edge Manual Food Chopper.
- Make strawberry honey: -Put strawberries in the largest pot you own. This is necessary because the mixture doubles in size when cooking. -Add the sugar. -If you have time, stir and let the mixture sit until sugar dissolves. -Bring to a rolling boil, stirring frequently. -Boil for 20 minutes, continuing to stir often.
- Prepare to put strawberry honey in jars: -Remove strawberry honey from heat and skim foam off of the top until only strawberry honey remains. -Remove jars from the oven and place near your pot. -Put funnel over each jar and scoop strawberry honey into the jar. -If necessary, skim any remaining foam off of honey in the jar. -Use a damp paper towel to wipe off the edge of each jar. -Using the magnetic lid lifter, place the lid on the top of each jar. -Using a hot pad, hold the jar, place the ring over the lid and tighten. -Invert the jars and set a timer for 5 minutes. When the five minutes are up, your jars will be sealed; wait for the popping of the lids to start. It's a wonderful summer sound in our family!
This is a super Recipe, I have never tried making flavored honey but this is very tempting
If you try it, we hope you like this. It is seriously good 🙂