Strawberry Preserves I

I thought the recipe was excellent because it tasted so good.

I doubled the recipe but only use 8 cups of sugar. It turned out wonderful. This is my first attempt at making preserves.

The flavor is a 5 but following the recipe exactly as given, it did not become thick enough to be spreadable, just a thick syrup with strawberries in it. I mashed most of the berries as whole berries of any kind tend to float to the top of the jar.. maybe that made the difficulty in thickening but I cook it to the recommended temp. Believe me, we’ll use and enjoy it, but it’s just not jam or preserves.

Very disappointing as after all that effort, the jam didn’t set. Would give zero stars if I could.

It came out great! I substituted the vinegar for lemon and cut down on one cup of sugar and it came out perfect. my step-son took the pot after I finished with it and licked it clean.

Don’t bother. More below. I made an account on All Recipes just so I could warn other people NOT to make this recipe. I made this recipe EXACTLY as it is described, 2 pounds strawberries, 5 cups of white sugar, salt, and vinegar, and boiled it for 15-20 minutes to reach a 220 temperature, and it is SO HARD I can’t even get it out of the jar I poured it into to set. It’s more like a 90% sugar candy than a jam. Honestly, I should have just used my homemade cranberry sauce recipe and called it a day. I’m disappointed, and also angry because I thought I would make this since we can’t go to the store (COVID-19) and since our berries were going, but now I’m out of FIVE whole cups of sugar and two pounds of strawberries.

Great recipe and very helpful comments section. I went all in with 6 lbs of strawberry which my family picked fresh from the fields this past weekend. Some were getting a bit soggy and squishy so i thought it was the perfect time to make preserves (my first time). First thing i did was cut the green tops off and sliced each strawberry in half. Then i washed/soaked everything. I had white distilled vinegar but opted to use apple cider vinegar as some had advised in the comment section. But I couldnt bring myself to use anywhere near 15 cups of sugar for this batch…..i wouldnt be able to look my doctor in the eye if i did! So instead i used 4 cups of white granulated sugar, less than a cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of honey. Then i got to cooking. The sugar and fruit started to liquefy almost immediately. My pot boiled over just a little bit in the beginning so i had to cook with the lid off for almost 30 minutes at max heat (gas stove). I could tell it had not set yet because it was still too liquidy as i was stiring the pot every few minutes or so just so i could keep tabs on the progress and to prevent future boilovers . So i put the lid back on the pot and lifted it ever so often to prevent boilovers but also so i could stir the preserves with a large wooden spoon. The preserves wouldn’t get hot enough with the lid off but it it sure did with the lid on. Within 20 minutes of putting the lid on the preserve turned from a light fruit punch red to deep crimson re

I stade with 5 teaspoons lemon juice and about 25min cook time it works thank you Sean

This was So Easy ! AND So Good ! Thanks

I used fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar, and lemon peels. I love it. I’ll make more and give it out as gifts.

I followed directions very closely and for some reason it did not get thick at all. Had to throw away. Wondering if I should have mashed the strawberries instead of leaving them whole?

Getting ready for the fair and I wanted a simple recipe that doesn’t use pectin. This was incredibly easy and fast. I used this exact recipe but substituted a 2/1/1 ratio of strawberries/blackberries/blueberries to make a triple-berry preserve. I also used a very large heavy pot and lemon juice. Do not start timing until the mixture is a full rolling boil. Not just a rolling boil in the middle. I start the timer when I see a bit of foam start to form. It took exactly 20 minutes and my thermometer reached 218 degrees. It may be off a degree or two. I can usually tell by sight when preserves are ready, but with the triple-berry combo I wanted to get a temp on it to be sure. You will get great results if you follow these tips.

This was so easy and turned out great! At first it seemed to not set well, but after the waterbath and resting for 12 hours, it was quite thick.

So I definitely give this 5 stars! It takes superb! A couple of important things: 1. Make sure you get it to 220°! That’s a must! I put a plate in the freezer and when we tried the first batch, we did the plate test (101 canning) and put a little of the preserve on the plate, waited a minute and if it smeared and didn’t run back together, it was done. 2. Follow the recipe! We didn’t use vinegar, but Lemon juice and it came out awesome! I’d read some of the other reviews and preferred Lemon juice. Very pleased with the results, just don’t let it boil over. Scraping carmelized sugar off your stove top sucks!!! LOL Use Lemon Juice to help break down the sugar, takes a while but it works. Will definitely use this one again.

super yummy!!

tried this yesterday. It came out too hard to spread. Very very sweet.

I had the same problem as a couple of others. The preserves didn’t set. They are the consistency of syrup. Any suggestions?

I follow the cooking instructions to a T and this recipe is always a big hit. I use Apple Cider Vinegar, though, and it works great. Everyone wants a jar when I am done, so I always double it when the strawberries are in season and on sale. Super excellent on PB & J’s, so my kids say. I prefer it on biscuits, myself.

I tried this recipe and it tastes great. However, the next time I make it I will crush the berries because they floated to the top of the jars and did not congeal. As a result, I have strawberries floating around in the top of the jar and jelly at the bottom. Go figure! haha

Delicious!!! but let me tell you, I change the white sugar by brown but little less, also I use frozen strawberry of first quality and i put lemon!.. Thank You for share this recipes!

I tried this recipe for the first time and had great luck. I had always used surejell and I did not like the texture it felt to rubbery. But this recipe worked great. I did substitute lemon juice for the the vinegar and I loved the taste. It took me awhile to figure out how to get it to set but once I learned it was easy. We use it on ice cream, cakes and bread of course. My family loves it and I will always use this recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!