Preserve, Our Independence

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

With gas prices going up and food prices going up and the cost of everything going up, my trips to the grocery store have become very stringent. I don’t allow myself to purchase luxury items, and always, always look for the deals. I’m usually able to stick to my strict standards…except when there are fresh strawberries in the produce department. Then, I find all sorts of legitimate reasons to buy them.

If I really need a reason, I claim it’s for the good of the economy. Especially around the 4th of July. What better way to enjoy the holiday of our country than buying overpriced strawberries, supporting the faltering economy, and not feeling guilty about it?

One favorite family activity when I was growing up in Montana was mountain hiking. One year, for the 4th of July, we hiked up Spanish Peaks and built dams in a creek that wandered down the side of the mountain. Then, we went home and made barbeque and homemade strawberry ice cream.

Sometimes, during our family hikes, my dad would share words of wisdom that he had acquired from those who were most familiar with the woods and the mountains (No, he didn’t learn these things from the Native Americans; he was a Boy Scout). One time, he mentioned that it was wild strawberry season. Soon, my brother, sister and I were on our hands and knees, rooting around for the tiny, wild strawberries.

“I can’t find any!” I said, sitting back on my feet.

“Do you want me to share a trick with you?” my dad asked.

I nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “This is what the Indians did” (My dad didn’t know about the more politically correct term “Native American”). “You close your eyes, stick out your tongue, and your tongue will lead you to the strawberries.”
I eagerly did exactly what he told me, and when I still couldn’t find any, I realized that I needed to spend time perfecting this technique of strawberry hunting.

Years later, I mentioned this whole story to my dad. “I totally made that up!” he said.

“I believed you!” I told him. A part of my worldview shifted that day, when I found out that you actually could not find strawberries with your tongue.

Perhaps that is why I have a strong strawberry-buying compulsion now. It’s like retail therapy in the grocery store.

The only downside of purchasing strawberries is that after even one day in the fridge, they become less juicy and tasty. I also like them at room temperature; the cold of the fridge hardens them. If I haven’t eaten them after a day or two, I have to figure out what to do with them. Which brought me to the recipe for strawberry preserves.

So, if you are like me, and have a disgusting weakness for strawberries, don’t try and hold back. Buy those strawberries. And when you realize that you have made a terrible mistake and they are going to turn bad before you could possibly eat them all, then make strawberry preserves.

Serves/Makes: 9 half-pints

• 1 1/2 quart red, ripe strawberries
• 5 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup lemon juice