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WAIMEA STRAWBERRIES
A few days ago, I talked about apricot and peach preserves and jams that my friend showed me how to make. When he saw that post, he sent me a message to say that I should be sure to tell everyone that the jars, the lids, the fruit – everything – needs to be kept kept at 200 degrees F!
So now I bring you strawberries!
These are strawberries from the fields in Waimea, a northern area of the Big Island of Hawai`i. You can’t believe how big and sweet they are. I have to eat a bunch of them right away before I make them up into preserves.
Just like with the apricots and peaches, the extra juice at the end is used to make strawberry flavored ginger preserves. I honestly don’t know which way I like them better – as strawberry preserves or as ginger-strawberry preserves.
Either way, they are totally fine on hot, freshly baked biscuits, over ice cream, or wherever your imagination takes you. Sometimes I’ve mixed up a few tablespoons in plain, non-fat yogurt as a special dessert.
It’s just about strawberry season, so you know what I’ll be doing soon!
I want to go to Waimea and pick my own strawberries, or buy some just picked. Can you tell me when and where I might do that?
I make freezer strawberry jam. Incredibly fresh flavored!
Would also like recipe for ginger-strawberry jam.
Aloha! Thank you for your comments, Brenda. You must live on the Big Island, if you want Waimea strawberries. If so, the Rincon Family Farm has always had a little roadside stand right by Daniel Thiebaut’s restaurant in Waimea. That’s where I always bought them, but then I think they closed. They still sell them through the KTA store in Waimea and I pay the same price. I’m not sure if you can go pick your own or not, but they are in the phone book.
I make the ginger-strawberry jam out of the extra juice after I’ve made the plain strawberry jam. There is always way more juice than I want, so after taking out what I want for the strawberry jam, I continue cooking just the juice with chopped up pieces of candied ginger added. That’s all there is to it – nothing really special to making it, but oh, so delicious! I like it over ice cream 🙂
Aloha,
Lucy