Strawberries All the Way



Stawberry Preserves Cooking on the Stovetop



I made another batch of my most favorite berry preserves.  It is quick and easy to do on the stove top and this recipe does not need any boxed pectin.

Just Enough Strawberry Preserves

1 pound fresh strawberries

2 1/2 cups white sugar

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

less than a pinch of salt

Hull, then slice or chop the strawberries.  In a saucepot, combine the strawberries, sugar, vinegar, and salt.  Bring to a rolling boil and cook, stirring frequently for 15 - 20 minutes.  Cool and refrigerate.  Keeps 1 week in the refrigerator, if it lasts that long!  I like to spread it on one side of a bagel and put cream cheese on the other, then sandwich it together for a breakfast treat.  It is also delicious when served over vanilla ice cream.

I worked on making a set of freezer jams too. That recipe is just about as easy as this, but I don't know if it set up as well.  It seemed a little thin when I poured it into the freezer jars. 

 

Growing Lemons in Wisconsin

Meyer Lemon in Summer 2010

My little lemon tree put out a lot of growth since last spring. 

This summer, it bloomed out with tons of surprisingly scented white blossoms.  However, that many lemons will not be developing.  Shortly after this time of beautiful blossoming many of the older leaves became netted with yellow and it dropped nearly all of those stressed leaves within a week.  After some research on the internet, I learned that I should be feeding my little lemon some acidic fertilizer and some diluted epsom salts for the magnesium content.   Apparently lemons are very heavy feeders during bloom time and need to put all their nutrients into formation of fruit.  It looks like I'll be getting 2 lemons if the last two little green lemon buds can hang on!

Same Meyer Lemon in June 2011



 

Meyer Lemons harvested from my Friend's Tree in Spring 2011