Strawberry Freezer Jam Workshop!

This Wednesday, June 13th, from 7 to 8 pm I will be teaching a workshop at Buttered Noodles on making strawberry freezer jam.  Freezer jam is a great way to capture the brief Vermont strawberry season for the rest of the year.  Strawberries are the only fruit I don't preserve in a traditional jam because I prefer the uncooked strawberry flavor.  Plus this jam is such a staple in my house and the season is so brief I am not sure I could make enough cooked jam to last more then 2 months.

After the workshop all participants are welcome to shop with a 10% discount (very few items are excluded from the discount).

Buttered Noodles
64 Harvest Lane
Williston, VT 05495
(802) 764-1810

Popovers with Strawberry Butter

Strawberry season is not yet here and when it does arrive many farms will not have any.  The flooding this spring has washed out the strawberries at our CSA and our closest you pick farm.   Memorial day weekend we had visitors from New York City who snacked on local strawberries during their car ride.  When I woke up to a handful of perfectly ripe sweet berries there seemed to be only one thing I could do.  Popovers, hot from the oven with a crisp exterior and a soft custard like lining accompanied by strawberry butter.  The strawberry butter glides across the interior, melting in pools of summer sweetness accentuated by the richness of butter.

Strawberry Butter

From Half a can of tomato paste and other culinary dilemmas

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature (if your food processor is in good condition it can be done with cold butter, it will just take longer)

2 Tbsp honey

4 large ripe strawberries (for local berries I figure 3-4 smaller berries equals 1 large one)

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor with the metal chopping blade or in a stand mixer.  Mix until the butter is light and fluffy and all the ingredients are emulsified together.  Serve immediately with warm popovers, good bread, pancakes, waffles...  Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in an air tight container.  It is best served at room temperature but that is not stopping anyone around here from spreading it on bread, toast a spoon etc.

Popovers
Adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook (although there are missing steps in the newest edition)
Yield 12 small muffin tin sized popovers or 6 large popover pan ones



Many popover recipes say you can skip the step of prewarming the tins in the oven.  From my limited tests you can skip this step but your popovers will not "pop" or expand as impressively.  Also after many years of making popovers I think part of the trick to getting them to pop so you don't need to serve them as egg muffins is whisking them enough for gluten to form.  The tenderness on the inside does not come from a delicate touch but the eggs.  You can make these in a regular muffin tin, once you are properly addicted I suggest investing in a popover pan.

4 eggs
1 cup milk (Lowfat, whole etc does not matter)
1/3 cup spelt flour (if you don't want to use spelt do 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup white)
1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat
1/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp melted butter

Preheat the oven to 375°, with convection if you have it, with the empty muffin tin or popover pan inside

Beat together the eggs and milk in a large bowl, preferably one with a pouring spout.

Add the flour and salt and then beat vigorously with a whisk or fork until the mixture is uniform.

Brush the bottom and sides of the tin generously with the melted butter.  You need to do the buttering and filling steps quickly so the tin retains its heat.

Fill each hole evenly with batter, about 2/3 or a little more full.  Place in the oven.  If you don't mind a little fussing turn the oven up to 400° for the first 5 minutes.  If using convection after 5 minutes reduce the heat to 350° and continue baking for 30 more minutes, without convection lower it back to 375°

Do not open the oven while the popovers are baking for at least the first 30 minutes, if you do they will deflate.  When you remove the popovers from the oven pierce the popovers with the tip of a sharp knife to allow the steam to escape.  Serve immediately with strawberry butter or butter and jam.

Strawberry Jams

This is the fourth and final batch of strawberry freezer jam for the winter.  It is slightly staggering to see how many jars we go through, but I know winter would feel a lot longer without them.  Strawberry season feels like a race, a race to pick and preserve enough before the season is over.  Often the season can be unpredictable, with the U-pick farms suddenly closed.  Happily this year the season started early, due to an early heat wave and then, thanks to plenty of rain and sunny heat, is continuing.  Now when I pick strawberries they can be eaten gluttonously without fears of running out of jam in January.

I have shared my Strawberry Freezer jam with Cointreau and Drambuie recipe here before, however I wanted to point it to new readers while reminding long time readers of how good it is.  If freezer space is limited I also have a Traditional no Pectin Strawberry Jam with Cointreau and Drambuie Recipe.  Both recipes are lower in sugar then what you will find in the grocery store.  Other then making you feel smug and condescending to people who eat the higher sugar variety, this gives the jams a truer strawberry flavor.

In between picking strawberries and making jam the boys and I went to the library to register for the summer reading program.  This is the first year both my boys are old enough to enroll, a milestone that I have been looking forward to.  Now both the boys will meet with a volunteer to talk about the books they have read.  This means I will not have to chase the youngest as he tries to play with the computer wires and rearrange all the books.  To celebrate the start of the program there was face painting at the library.  Sebastian has spent weeks planning what he would be.  When we walked home he grimaced at everyone we passed only to be disappointed that nobody freaked out.  Maybe they were trying to avert their eyes from the purple garden devil walking with him and his water devil brother.

Strawberry ShortCake

On the morning of my fortieth birthday Julian, my five year old, ran in to the room and asked, "When are the Gathers getting here?" Children are so funny about secrets and surprises. Up until that moment both boys had been doing an okay job of keeping our friends visit a surprise, only allowing comments to leak out that I could ignore, or pretend did not mean anything more then how much we all missed our friends. But that comment was so blatant, spoken by a child who was having trouble keeping what he knew bottled inside, and needed an answer.

Turns out the answer was lunch time, our friends would be here at lunch time. The Gathers are friends who were forced to move away last summer for an Ear Nose and Throat Residency 3.5 hours away. They are a family with a close friend for each of us plus a bonus 2 year old. Malcolm, the 2 year old, is strong willed in a remarkably similar way to Julian. A lesson every day to his mother, Katherine, for ever marveling at Julian and my ability to cope. She made the mistake of commenting on it when she was still planning on having one more child.

I have always been hard to surprise, even before I had children to tell me out right. Lewis is often amazed and horrified at how little information I need to make accurate conclusions.

I have had 2 attempted surprise parties before in my life and I figured out both of them. There is often too much maneuvering to the time and destination. Both previous attempts involved outright arguing, one about when I would return from going out with another friend. My surprise 12th birthday party my friends asked if I could have a birthday party (my mother was very ill and I could not have one) who would I invite. When they argued with me about the guests for my fantasy party, I knew something was up.

As my friend Katherine tried to guide us to my husband's office to meet him for lunch my suspicions were aroused. So I quietly changed my shirt, grabbed my camera and stopped arguing about where we should eat. Then in case I doubted my own instincts, Sebastian turned to Julian as we left and said, "Don't worry, the party is at Daddy's office and there will be food there."

And there was food, wonderful food that Lewis had chosen with local caterers, all simple but delicious and fresh. There was also a room with some of my favorite people. At one point there was a row of children, whose families do not eat processed foods, happily drinking florescent orange gatorade. The only thing missing was cake, Lewis could not decide on a cake that would be right so he decided on none. So a few days later, I made my own. A strawberry shortcake made with a spongecake base instead of biscuits.

Strawberry shortcake was a specialty of my mom's, and in honor of my mother I used one of her spongecake recipes. I used the one where she rewrote the steps, whited out what she wrote and then rewrote the steps again. I am not sure this is the best sponge cake recipe ever, but I just love the audacity of the white out in my mother's cookbook, something I can not bring myself to do.

I did receive a true surprise in the end as Katherine and her children stayed in my tiny house with Sebastian and Julian while Lewis and I went to stay at their condo at Sugarbush. I have been pining for weeks for a chance to eat without anybody whining and sleep as late as I want without having to worry about anybody. So this gift was perfect, especially as I really missed my children as I tried to go to sleep in a building they were not in. I guess I am not one of those mothers who is destined to take a long vacation from her children.

Strawberry Shortcake

Sponge Cake

Adapted from James Beard and my mother

4 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

4 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups of sugar (divided use)

3/4 cups hot water

grated rind of 2 lemons

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

4 egg whites beaten until stiff, but not dry

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

Melt the butter slowly in a small saucepan over low heat. When the butter is melted whisk in the 2 Tbsp flour. Brush the flour/butter mixture on the insides of two 8 inch cake pans and set aside, not next to the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°.

Beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon colored (this is much easier with the best quality eggs, which I happily gather from my own chickens). While beating the eggs slowly add 1 cup of sugar. Mix in the hot water, lemon rind, lemon juice, salt and baking powder and the rest of the sugar.

James Beard says to fold in the beaten egg whites. Once the egg whites are thoroughly incorporated sift the flours over the batter and fold it in. My mom said to fold in the flour first and the egg whites second. I will leave the choice up to you.

Pour the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake in the center of the oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the pans on a cooling rack.

Topping

Heavy/whipping cream

Organic strawberries (in season I will happily use local non organic strawberries that I know are not sprayed at all once the fruit is set).

Put the whipping cream in a bowl and whip using an electric beater, stand mixer or immersion blender to until soft peaks form. Remove the cakes from the pan by inverting on to a plate or cake stand. Spread the bottom layer heavily with whipped cream and cover with sliced strawberries. Spread the strawberries with more whipped cream and then place the top layer on the cake. Spread the top with more whipped cream and place sliced strawberries on top. Serve at once

Refrigerate any leftovers (Ha)

Strawberry Freezer Jam

As you can see by the photo we are all out of strawberry jam. The boys and I have tried to go pick berries twice to fix this problem and both times the fields were already picked out. Really it is early here for strawberries. In another week the plants will be overflowing with ripe fruit. However the boys and I love going berry picking and all of us are impatient for more jam, strawberry butter and mounds of strawberries to eat just waiting on the kitchen counter.

So why am I posting this recipe before I can get enough strawberries to make it? Well many of you are already in the height of strawberry season and this is a great way to preserve their taste for the winter. Plus this recipe is on my mind right now, even though I don't have any for us to eat.

This recipe is super easy to make, even for those with a fear of canning and traditional jam making. For other fruits I use traditional preserving methods and no commercial pectin. However I prefer the taste of strawberries when they are uncooked. This delicateness of flavor is why local seasonal strawberries are so different from their grocery store relatives. So when I make strawberry jam I use freezer jam pectin. It also means this is a super easy recipe that you won't mind making after picking a mound of berries. You don't need to hang over a boiling pot of jam and boiling water bath canner to make it. Good thing if I want to have the time, and energy to make at least 4 batches this summer.

The resulting jam tastes like strawberries and summer. If you have only ever had strawberry jam from the store this will be a real surprise. I think store bought strawberry jam just tastes "red." The last time I said that Sebastian asked what I meant. I explained that it doesn't taste like strawberries, just like sugar and artificial strawberry flavor, it is what the color red would taste like. Then the boys and I went with Lewis on a business trip to Boston and at breakfast in the hotel Sebastian finally tasted regular strawberry jam. After taking a bite of his toast he said, "It tastes red, only sweet and red." He did think the bacon and cheddar omelette he had there was, "Spectacular."

The recipe I use is based on a traditional no pectin strawberry jam I came up with several years ago. In that jam I added the chopped peel of half an orange to ensure the jam would set, as strawberries are low in natural pectin. The jam reliably set well and the orange was a wonderful counterpart to the berries. I didn't keep the peel in this recipe as it would not taste good uncooked, but there is Cointreau for the orange taste and Drambuie for complexity, both liqueurs can be left out if you prefer.

Strawberry Freezer Jam

5 Tbsp Ball Freezer Jam Pectin

1 1/2 cups sugar

enough fresh, ripe, local strawberries to yield 4 cups crushed, 2 quarts should be enough. (I crush mine in a large measuring cup with a potato masher, slicing any really large berries first)

2 tsp Cointreau (optional)*

2 Tbsp Drambuie (optional)*

1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon or orange juice

5 - 6 1/2 pint jars, it is fine to use regular glass canning jars. Ball does make freezer jars, however they still break if they fall when frozen. Perhaps I should stop over stuffing the freezer.

Combine pectin and sugar in a large bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Combine crushed fruit with liqueurs if using and either lemon or orange juice. Add fruit mixture to the sugar and pectin and stir for 3 minutes. Ladle jam into half pint canning jars or freezer jars leaving 3/4 of an inch of headspace to allow for expansion during freezing. Allow jars to stand at room temperature until thickened, approximately 30 minutes.

I don't like this jam until 24 hours after making it as it takes that long for the sugar to dissolve properly. My boys love it right away as the undissolved sugar makes it much sweeter. The Ball package says freezer jam will keep for 1 year in the freezer and up to 3 weeks in the fridge, I often keep it for longer in the fridge without any problems, there is enough sugar to act as a preservative. I don't know if it will last a year in the freezer, I never seem to make enough for that to be a concern.

*If you are worried about adding uncooked alcohol to the jam bear in mind that when you make a dish such as a stew with alcohol most of the alcohol is not cooked out. The alcohol content in this jam is actually very small, or you can just leave it out.