Strawberries
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Choose ripe, high quality strawberries for drying. Wash by spraying with white vinegar and rinsing with water. Remove leaves and any bad spots. Cut the strawberries uniformly into 1/2 inch slices. Spread them out for drying, making sure they do not overlap. Choose a drying method:
-Place the strawberries in a sunny window on a warm day with temperatures near 100 degrees and low humidity.
-Place the strawberries in the oven at 130 degrees.
-Use a food dehydrator, following the manufacturer's instructions.
Check them periodically during drying. Strawberries are dried when almost crisp but still pliable. Pack strawberries in a moisture proof container. Vacuum packing strawberries will further prolong their shelf life, but storage in a glass, moisture proof container also works well. Use within a year.
From: eHow
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1 quart strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
Mix strawberries and sugar; let stand 1 hour. (If you need to save time, stop here and just spoon the strawberries generously over good vanilla ice cream. Everyone will say "oooh" and you won't even have to turn on the oven.)
1/3 cup shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
Preheat oven to 450. Use a pastry blender or two table knives to cut shortening into flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk until just blended. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently smooth into a ball and knead 20-25 times. Roll out to 1/2-inch thickness and cut with a floured 3-inch round cutter (or other shapes as desired, adjusting baking times). Place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, abotu 10-12 minutes. Split crosswise while hot. Butter them if desired; fill and top with strawberries and top with sweetened whipped cream: For 1 cup of whipped cream, beat 1/2 cup whipping (heavy) cream with 1 Tbsp. granulated or powdered sugar in a chilled bowl until stiff.
From: Betty Crockers' cookbook (40th anniversary edition). Prentice Hall, c1991.
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A slightly different way to do the berries:
10 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
Crush 3 cups strawberries with a potato masher. Add remaining berries. Sprinkle with sugars and add vinegar. Stir until all berries are coated. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hr.
From: Cooking pleasures, June-July, 2000.
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