Strawberry Lemon Preserves

I have to say first that this was the most yummy smelling thing we've made in the last several weeks. My kitchen still smells like strawberries and lemons.

These strawberry lemon preserves were made following a recipe from Canning for a New Generation. I really love this book. Easy to follow directions, recipes organized by season, and it includes recipes for vegetable canning, not just fruit. I have a real thing for cookbooks organized seasonally (Rustic Fruit Desserts got me stuck on cookbooks organized this way) and that makes certain cookbooks trump others in my heart.

Looks like we needed to try to get just a little more foam off the top...

Kristen asked how we were canning our strawberries this year. The plain strawberry jam we canned is freezer jam with a packaged pectin. This is the way we've been making our jam for the last few summers, but I've been reading more about canning without a packaged pectin, and now I'm leaning that direction. The strawberry lemon preserves are the first fruit I've canned without packaged pectin and it was pretty simple.


We have a lot of plans for canning without a packaged pectin this summer, so I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.