# Canning strawberries??



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

I have 10# of strawberries and 2 rhubarb plants I'd like to get into some jars.

Anyone ever make strawberry pie filling? I don't want jam and I don't want to freeze them. It seems all the recipes I find are for one of those.

SO.....does anyone see anything wrong with sugar, clear jell, strawberries, 50/50 white grape juice-water(to stretch it a bit) and possibly rhubarb canning up? I may toss in some lemon juice, just to cover my back side. It all cooks to a "mush" in a pie anyways...so...how could it possible not work? I'll check times in the Ball Blue Book.


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## PixieLou (May 1, 2010)

I haven't made strawberry pie filling, but I did experiment with canning whole strawberries this past spring (when they were on sale super cheap in the grocery store). I had been buying canned whole strawberries (Polar Brand) in the grocery store for my daughter (5 yo) who absolutely loved them. Everything I had read about canning strawberries had told me to use a hot pack method. But I experimented with both hot pack and raw pack. 


As for The Results (which I wrote in my blog)

I tried a 2nd batch of strawberries this week - raw pack. Last weekend I had tried the hot pack. Today we did a side-by-side taste comparison.

Batch 1 - the strawberries were boiled in a syrup. Then sat for 1-2 hours. The cooked berries and syrup were packed into jars. Then BWB. 3 lbs of berries yielded 5 half-pints (plus an extra pint of yummy strawberry syrup - which I also canned)

Batch 2 - fresh berries were packed into jars. A simple syrup was boiled and poured over the berries. Then BWB. 2 lbs of berries yielded 7 half-pints (I could only get 5 or 6 berries in each jelly jar.)

Results - both resulted in "mushy" berries - very little discernible texture difference between the 2. (The texture was similar to when you defrost frozen berries). But the taste was fine. The hot pack berries actually had a bit more strawberry flavor, plus a yummy strawberry flavored syprup. The raw pack berries has a bland "sugar-water" flavored syrup and the berries themselves tasted a bit blander.

Overall I think the experiment was a success. My daughter has happily gobbled up both batches of strawberries. Though my husband and I much prefer the hot pack method. So this June, I think I will be picking lots and lots of strawberries at the PYO place. And I will can lots of half pints via hot pack.


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

that sounds wonderful. My strawberry beds are full of blooms....
I bet that would be awesome topping some sponge cake or vanilla icecream (or both)


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Thanks PixieLou!

I went ahead and made up the filling this morning. I guess you could say I did half hot half cold packing, lol.

I found a jug of strawberry kiwi Juicy Juice (100% juice) in the basement so I used that and a jug of water, 7 cup of sugar, 3# of rhubarb, 2# of strawberries, 2/3 c lemon juice, and 2 c of clear jell and took that up to a boil. While waiting for that to boil I filled each quart jar 1/2 full of chunks of strawberries and rhubarb. Processed it all for 30 min (like blueberries). It made 8 qts, but I can only can 7 at a time...so I made one into a pie.

It seems to have worked well. Next time I'm cutting back the sugar to 5 1/2 c I was afraid the rhubarb would be too sour, so I did the 7 cups like you do for peaches. It's not too sweet, but I like "light sweet" pie vs. "normal sweet".


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## sugarspinner (May 12, 2002)

May have to try this. It sounds great. When I was a little girl (we're thinking, here of 60 or so years ago) my mother used to can strawberries. She did all her canning in an electric roaster. Anyway, the berries turned a sort-of sickish pink, shrunk and were chewy, like eating little pink rubber balls. We ate them but the resemblance to fresh strawberries was absolutely nil. I like your method (s) better.


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## rainydays (Jan 26, 2008)

I canned pints of strawberries in light syrup last year. They do get mushy, but not bad. I mostly eat them on homemade yogurt. 
Also, I've used the berry-flavored syrup that's left in the jar to make strawberry lemonade this winter. Very good.


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