Local & Plastic-Free: Strawberry Granita

I have a deep deep love for strawberries... well, not just any strawberries.  Local in-season strawberries.  Ever since we moved to Wilmington and I ate berries picked straight from the plant... I couldn't go back to buying strawberries out of season.  Seriously.  Every time I tried to buy berries that had been shipped in from Florida or California (no offense!)... I'd always be disappointed in flavor and texture.  Then when I started to really focus on reducing our plastic waste, buying out of season strawberries was an easy thing to say adios! to.   So all fall and all winter... I blend frozen strawberries (that I picked) in smoothies to give me my strawberry fix... and I wait and wait and long for fresh picked strawberries.

...and then I go overboard!

On Tuesday, my kids and I went to Lewis Farms and picked around 30 pounds of strawberries!  What can I say? Once you start it's really hard to stop!!!  SO... biggest question I've gotten from people I've told that fun fact to is:  What the heck are you going to do with all of those berries?!?

Ummm... eat them of course ;) 


Besides eating them in their most beautiful state... I'll also be making fruit leather, tarts, jam, shortcakes, and more including some recipes I've been wanting to try in Blissful Bites.  Today, I tried my hand at making strawberry granita!  Plain and simple... it was amazing!  It was so good that my kids came back for seconds, thirds and fourths!  To them it was like a sno-cone (a healthy one without artificial anything!) and they couldn't stop eating it!  (That my friends is a victory!)

Strawberry Granita

from Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 pounds strawberries
6 TBSP organic raw sugar
1 cup water
juice of 1 small lemon (optional)

Slice strawberries into a large bowl.  Add sugar to strawberries and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

In a blender, add strawberries including liquid, water, and lemon juice.  Process until smooth.

Pour the mixture into a shallow pan (13x9 glass dish or 2 qt casserole dish).  Place in the freezer.  After about 30 minutes, check the mixture to see if it's begun to freeze.  When the mixture begins to get icy around the edges, take a fork and stir the edges to the center every 20-30 minutes.  This process of scraping and stirring will take about 2 hours (depending, of course, what size dish you use and the depth of the liquid this could be less or more time).  Once the mixture is "frozen" scrape evenly with a fork into flakey crystals. Serve immediately or store in the freezer for up to one day.

NOTE: If you don't want to do the "work" of making granita, you can easily make this mixture into popsicles!  Instead of pouring the strawberry mixture into a dish, just pour into popsicle molds! :)  Mmmmm....


Warning: Watch out because if posting about strawberries is anything like picking them... there may be many more strawberry posts on the way... but hey! they're prettier than cigarette butts right?!? ;) 

Plastic-Free Strawberry & Apple Fruit Leather

Yesterday, as I danced around my kitchen... I once again realized one of the many rewards of striving to reduce our families plastic footprint.  The reward, of course, is the victory of figuring out how to make something that has been so commercialized that we think that we need special equipment to make it OR the only way to get it is to buy it.

But, what I learned yesterday as I turned apples and strawberries into fruit leather is that I don't need fancy equipment and my kids don't have to go without BECAUSE it's one of the easiest (and best tasting) things I've ever made.  Seriously, no joke.

Excited with my creation... I carried the fruit leather to my daughter's dance last night.  Of course, I shared.  The reaction was, "You should sell these."  But... why sell something when you can share a recipe and people can make their own??  Everyone deserves to dance around their kitchen in sweet victory!!!

Strawberry & Apple Fruit Leather

adapted from "The River Cottage Preserves Handbook"

2-3 cooking apples, peeled and diced  (I used Fuji, if you would like other suggestions... just ask me!)

1 lb 2oz strawberries (I used fresh picked local strawberries)

juice of one lemon

7 TBSP honey

Line 2 sheet/cookie pans with parchment paper or Silpat.

Add apples, strawberries and lemon juice to skillet (or pot).  Cook on med-low until fruit is soft, about 15-20 min.  When fruit is soft, run it through a food mill or sieve.  Add the honey.

Divide mixture evenly on the two sheet pans.  Spread out to an even thinness.  Bake at 180˚F for 7 hours or until dry. 

Cut to how you like... eat in strips... roll them up... however you eat them... trust me... you'll be dancing ;) 

Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.  (<---HA!  We ate ours in a day!!!)

Notes:  

*Any berry would work to replace the strawberries.  Make this with seasonal berries :)

*180˚F is the lowest temperature setting for my oven.  If you have a lower setting, you could dehydrate these at 140˚F for 12-18 hours

*Always one to experiment whether or not lining the pans is actually needed... I lightly oiled a pan and tried it out.  Sure it works fine... but it takes (a lot) more effort to get the fruit leather off of the pan.  Save yourself the time and line the pans!! ;)  

*I was asked if a food processor could be used in place of a food mill.  My thought is "why not?"... as long as the mixture is thoroughly puréed, it should work fine.  If you try it with a food processor... let me know :)

Keep It Local: Strawberries

It's been a few months since strawberry season ended here in coastal NC. :(  Picking strawberries is one of our most favorite things to do... we even picked strawberries on our California vacation last month :)  Admittedly we have a problem-- we don't know when to quit.  ;)  But in the case of of picking strawberries... that's a good problem to have :D

Before the season ended we picked loads of berries and enjoyed the bounty of fresh local strawberries...

Mmmm... local berries.  They're in season and the flavor (and texture) is at their peak... far superior than anything we could ever buy in a grocery store.  True, I'm missing strawberries already... but I know that my taste buds would only be disappointed by berries shipped from across the country.  So thanks to our habit of not being able to quit picking berries, I've got ice cream buckets full of strawberries in my freezer just perfect for making smoothies AND I finally did what I've been wanting to do for so many years... make Fresh Strawberry Jam.

Sure in past years, I've made strawberry jam... but only a few jars.

As one of my many commitments this year, I decided that I wasn't going to buy strawberry jam anymore.  

Strawberries macerating.

By making my own, I bring it back to the way things used to be... picking my own food and preserving it for the future.  I know where our strawberries were grown and how they were prepared (by me!), I can control how much and what kind of sweetener I use.... no plastic seals, no trucks, no shelves stocked. 

 Keeping it local.  Keeping it seasonal. 

Want to get canning and jamming?  Check out Food in Jars

Food In Jars: Strawberry Jam