Rainy days..............

Once upon a time, I despised rainy days. Now, a rainy day is a chance to re-group and make progress in a different direction. And we had some major accomplishments today!

Today was intern Emily's first day at Miss Eff's. There will be enough days of playing in the mud so we drove to a fellow Buy Fresh-Buy Local member's home and bought strawberries. Besides, Emily might as well get used to working in the sauna we call a kitchen. Damn! It was steamy in there today!!!!

Rhonda raises strawberries, red and black raspberries and blackberries. She also raises gourds and creates bowls, kaleidoscopes, lamps and birdhouses out of the gourds. She is a member of the Left Bank Art League and shows at several prominent local art shows and fairs.

I will tell you about her fabulous elegant home another time. But suffice it to say, Emily and I were drooling over Rhonda's commercial stove! What meals I could burn on that!!!! But I digress!

We bought 16 pounds of sweet delicious strawberries and headed home to start canning strawberry jam. (Grace, if your mom is letting you read this..... there is a jar of jam here for you!)

But the berries were so good ........ so sweet ..... so beautiful ..... I had to make one of my favorite treats .......... Strawberry Lemonade.




(Note to all -- The lemonade needs to be stored in a dark location or the color may change. And only keep this for about 6-9 months. What am I saying??? This will be gone by August if you show restraint!!!! Otherwise ..... it will be gone next week!!! It is much prettier in color than the photograph... but the photographer is/was exhausted and that's as good as it gets!!)

4 quarts strawberries, washed and hulled
4 cups lemon juice (either fresh or bottled)
3 quarts of water
6 cups of sugar

1) Puree strawberries in a blender or food processor. For a clearer lemonade, extract juice from strawberries with a juice extractor. Strain through a fine sieve to remove many of the seeds.

2) Place strawberries in an 8-quart or larger stock pot. Add lemon juice, water and sugar. Place the mixture over medium heat and heat to 165 degrees F, stirring occasionally. Do not boil.

3) Remove from heat and skim off the foam with a metal spoon. There will be a lot of foam -- but remove it. It makes the lemonade clearer and looks much nicer.

4) Quickly ladle hot juice into clean, hot jars, leaving 1/2" headspace; seal.

5) Process in a boiling water bath 15 minutes.

Yield is 6 to 7 quarts.

This is sweet but delicious. Sometimes, I stretch it by combining a quart of strawberry lemonade with a can of frozen lemonade. And sometimes, I add some sparkling water to give it a spritzer-like quality.

And maybe some vodka.

I'm just saying!!!!!

Comments

I have to try this. We have been picking a cereal bowl of strawberries a day. I'm so glad we planted them, because our CSA farmer lost all his strawberries this year.

They are so yummy... and this will be even better. Thanks for sharing.
Canning lemonade? This is just crazy enough to be wonderful....I MUST TRY THIS. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe Miss Eff!! We'll be out to see you soon!
Michelle Hess said…
Miss Effie,
This is pure genius! I can't wait to come visit your farm in July!

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