Cooking with Chef Jo: Strawberries!

I honestly have every gardener's early spring lament...I hate going grocery shopping with so many new sprouts coming up every day. The promise of fresh, home grown vegetables beats store bought every time, but that's months away. Sigh! Can't you tell I was standing behind the door when God handed out patience?

My strawberries are blooming like mad as I type this. I can almost taste those juicy, succulent berries! I can't wait until those ripe berries are ready to be plucked. When my children and grandchildren were young, I had this rule about berry picking. Two for the bucket and one for the mouth. Since I always grew organically, there were no worries that they would eat something poisonous. Even to this day, I'll pick five for the bucket and one for the mouth when it's just me harvesting the berries. I mean you gotta do quality checks, right? Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 So today, it's a strawberry recipe and it's a twofer...strawberry jam and homemade strawberry hand tarts (Poptarts).

Jo's Strawberry Preserves
9*-1/2 pint jars
(actually it's my Grandmother's and I have no idea where she got it from probably her grand mother)


8 cups of strawberries, cut in half or quarters depending on the size of the berries
3 cups of sugar*
3 Tbs lemon juice
1 cup of water
1 Tbs butter

• *Adjust the sugar more or less depending on how sweet the berries are. Berries and grapes have a natural pectin. So no added pectin is needed.
• Sterilize half pint canning jars and keep them hot. 15 minutes in boiling water should do it. Just leave them in the water until ready to fill.
• Place strawberries, sugar, water, and lemon juice in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.
• Bring to a high simmer and continue cooking until it reaches 120 degrees.
• Use a potato masher to break up some of the clumps of berries.
• Remove from  heat.
• If foamy, stir in the butter. Stir until most of the foam is gone. Skim the rest off.
• Pour into hot jars leaving about 1/4" head space.
• Wipe the rim of the jar with a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water.
• Lid and ring the jars. Don't worry if your preserves look runny at this point. It will thicken as it cools.
• Invert on a towel for 20 minutes and then flip the jars right side up. Or water bath can for 15 minutes.
• After 12-24 hours check the seal. Store in cool, dark place.

Hand Tarts
My recipe has a bread dough like crust versus the pie crust like dough. It's oh so yummy!

2 c  all purpose flour
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp sea salt
1/4 c butter, grated and frozen
6 oz whole milk, chilled
2 Tbs sour dough starter
 1 egg with a splash of milk, beaten for egg wash
1/2 pint jar of jelly, jam, or preserves

• Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
• Cut the butter into the flour. Mix until it looks like corn meal or baby peas.
• In another bowl, beat milk and sour dough starter together.
• Add liquid to the dry. Mix until it forms a dough.
• Knead dough about twenty times, set dough aside covered with a towel or plastic wrap for one hour. This will allow the dough to rehydrate the flour and rise.
• Knead dough about 10 times and divide in half.
• Roll each half about 1/4" thick.

Decision time. Do you want individual portions or or one large pastry? I've done both. Cut your dough accordingly.

• Spread your jam or preserves onto one section of dough leaving 1/4" inch around the edge without filling. About 2 Tbs if doing individual tarts.
• Brush unfilled edge with egg wash.
• Place the other section on top pressing the edges to seal. Crimp edges with a fork.
• Brush with egg wash.
• Cover and set aside for twenty minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Bake your pop tart for 20 minutes and place on rack to cool.

Decision time again. How do you want to frost your tarts? You can leave them plain, dust them with powdered sugar, a simple water and confectioners sugar glaze, or something fancier. My favorite one for children is 1 cup of confectioners sugar to a Tbs of preserves liquid. (take out the chunks of strawberries)  Top the whole thing with sprinkles.

You can do this with any type of preserves. Enjoy!

Y'all have a blessed day!

Jo