Strawberry Preserves

We bought a pound and a half of strawberries at the Argenta farmer's market on Tuesday. I knew there was no way that the two of us would go through that many strawberries before they started getting bruised and soft, so I decided to make strawberry preserves.

I also still had about a cup of orange syrup from making the Candied Orange Peel, which I substituted for the 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 LB stawberries, washed, trimmed, and cut into bite size pieces

Directions:

• Stir the sugar and water over low heat to dissolve the sugar, then bring to a boil.
• Add one half of the strawberries to the syrup and let return to a boil.
• Cook the fruit for one minute.
• Use a slotted spoon and transfer the berries to a colander set over another dish to catch the drips.
• Stirring occasionally, boil the syrup for about five minutes to reduce to original volume.
• Cook the second batch of berries in the syrup for one minute.
• Transfer to the colander.
• Tip the juices from the strawberries into the syrup.
• Boil the syrup for another five minutes.
• Add the berries back to the syrup, and allow to simmer for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Spoon into a sterile jar--the preserves will keep for up to six months in the fridge, if you want to store them longer, process them in a boiling water bath.

I served mine with Fry Bread for breakfast.

Was it worth the mess?

Absolutely!