With my strawberries ripening in the patch, I went out to fill up my pan.

I returned with 4 quarts of red, sweet, tasty morsels.

At the urging of my daughter, I used this picking of berries for a simple treat.  Originally it came to us as a beverage syrup from The Settlement Cook Book .  But we also use it on ice cream or on pancakes and waffles.  We call it Strawberry Syrup.

Strawberry Syrup

Gather the Equipment you will need:

• Potato masher (I don’t like using a blender.  It tends to make the berry mash so fine that the juice will not seep easily through the jelly bag.)
• Flat pan in which to mash the berries
• Candy thermometer
• Several layers of cheesecloth or a jelly bag
• A canning funnel to aid in a clean pouring of syrup into the jars
• 5 or 6 half-pint sterilized canning jars with lids and screw bands 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups mashed berries
• 4 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water

Place the mashed berries in a jelly bag to extract the juice.  (You will get approximately 1-1/2 cups of juice.)

Cook sugar and water together until it reaches 234° F.  When it reaches this temperature, add the strawberry juice and bring to a boil again.  Remove from burner.  Skim the top of the syrup.  While still hot, pour the syrup into the sterilized jars and seal with lids and screw bands.

Two teaspoons of this syrup mixed in a glass of cold water makes a sweet fruit drink.  It also goes great with waffles and pancakes or it can be used as an ice cream topping.

Note:  We also use this recipe with red raspberries and black raspberries.   It can also be made with currants.
photo credit: bucklava via photo pin cc
photo credit: Deena Hall
photo credit: Deena Hall