Strawberries All The Year

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 2

Strawberries All The Year

(By

SUSAN BAKER)

Because of the skill of horticultural scientists and the hard work of market gardeners, New Zealanders enjoy the cheapest and most plentiful supply of strawberries in the world—for a short time, at least.

When we are paying a few shillings a pound for them in the flush, other people in other lands are paying four and five times that price for the same strawberries, which are being air-freighted to countries as far away as the United States and Britain. But the peak of the straw-berry-growing season does not last long, even in our kindly climate. It often seems only a matter of a month or two before the strawberries retreat to the high-priced end of a shop or disappear entirely. And that is why literally tens of thousands of New Zealand women bottle strawberries when they are cheap and plentiful to ensure that their families can enjoy them all the year round —as dessert toppings, as a fruit salad ingredient, for cake decoration, and as a dessert on their own or with cream or ice-cream. Here are two ways to preserve strawberries. The first way is undoubtedly the easier, but the fruit tends to break up a little. The second way is more trouble but keeps the berries in perfect shape. OVERFLOW METHOD Select only firm, highly coloured berries. Wash, stem

and measure. For each quart of strawberries allow threequarters to one cup of sugar. Cover the berries with sugar and allow to stand for several hours preferably overnight. The strawberry juice and the sugar will then combine into a liquid in which the strawberries can be cooked.

Bring the strawberries to the boil and keep them briskly boiling for 10 minutes, removing scum as it forms. Having previously thoroughly cleaned and heated your preserving jars, fill them—one at a time—right to the top with the boiling berries and juice. And, while the berries are still simmering in the jar, wipe the rim and close it with a seal and screw band. The contents of th? jars must be still bubbling when you fit the lids or you may not get a perfect seal. WATERBATH METHOD For every two pounds of strawberries you will require a breakfast cup of sugar and half a cup of strawberry juice. The juice may be obtained by crushing and heating culls or over-ripe berries. Boil the sugar and juice together for a minute or two until you have a smooth syrup. Allow this syrup to cool, then add the whole strawberries and bring to the boil, keeping up the boiling for just three minutes. Cover the cooking vessel and set aside for at least four hours, or, preferably, overnight. Then pack the berries and juice into clean jars, filling them to about half an inch from the top. Seal and screw down. Cover the jars with warm water and bring quickly to the boil, keeping the water boiling 15 minutes. Take the jars from the water immediately the processing time is finished. If you use a pressurecooker, you need process the jars only four minutes at 51b pressure. But do not start counting processing time until you have a full head of steam in the cooker.