A Week of Strawberries - Part I - Fresh, Frozen Strawberries

My dad says that he almost hates to see us do anything to fresh strawberries; it's almost a waste, he says. He just loves fresh, sweet berries. And who doesn't? Granted, I like a bit of sugar and milk on mine, but still. He's lucky we're in North Carolina - where it's strawberry season - and farms abound with fresh, juicy berries this time of year and he can afford to buy gallon after gallon. I think we've probably bought, what, 20 gallons so far? Yes. Twenty gallons. I can hear you asking - what did you do with all those berries? Well, several things, and I'm going to share with you this week, in three parts, exactly what we've done.

If you want strawberries year-round, you have to freeze them. Yes, jam is good (more on that later). And yes, frozen whole berries from the store are available, but if you want sweet local berries in October for pies and cakes, you have to do a little bit of work in May when they're filling local farmland. And that's exactly what we did. It's simple, really.

Frozen, Sweetened Berries
By Confabulation in the Kitchen
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1. Wash, cap and slice fresh berries.
2. Measure out one quart of berries, pour into large bowl.
3. Add one cup of sugar (or splenda, we do some that way, too) to berries and stir.
4. Put in pint to pint-and-a-half containers and deep freeze until you're ready to use them.

See? Four steps! And you're ready to bake pies (all you have to add is the crust and some butter) and cakes and anything else you can think of. It couldn't be easier. How do you save fresh strawberries? Tell us all!