Easy Refrigerator/Freezer Strawberry Preserves Recipe

[19Sandy]

I am looking for a basic strawberry preserves recipe for refrigeration or freezer (no canning). I especially want one without pectin. I used to have a recipe that was simple and easy, but can't find it anymore.

[Mary B.]

I am looking for a basic strawberry preserves recipe for refrigeration or freezer (no canning). I especially want one without pectin. I used to have a recipe that was simple and easy, but can't find it anymore.

Sandy, this is a technique maybe more than a recipe, but here's how I do all kinds of preserves. Learned about it from the owner of a local blueberry farm. He said just fruit and honey; I add the grated apple, which does of course contain pectin, because it seemed to make it thicken more reliably, and likewise the lemon juice. (The technique here is iteration 3 and last summer I used it with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, apricots and a couple of other things. Oh, blackberries, no doubt.)

Mix:
10 cups fruit (chopped in the case of strawberries)
1 cup honey
1 finely-grated apple, including the skin
1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice -- more if the fruit is really ripe

Bring to a rolling boil, then simmer until it begins to set. (I test it by dipping a spoon in and watching how it flows off. You may prefer to put a saucer in the freezer, then put a small spoon of fruit on it to see if it acts like jam. A good test is pulling your finger through the middle of it -- if the two halves stay separate, it's jam not syrup.)

I can this because that's how I like to keep it, but you could certainly keep it in the refrigerator.