Recently at our ‘scratch and dent’ salvage store, I found some lovely buys! I was able to get 5 cases (aka 40 pounds!!) of strawberries and 14 plastic containers of greens. All organic!! And mostly still in very useable and eatable shape! I enjoy this store because there are some things I can always find and then each time I go, there is a different ‘sale’ or specialty item for an excellent price. So today, let me share with you what I did with all of this delicicousness and hopefully give you a couple of ideas for when you find/grow/get an abundance of fresh produce.

Strawberries

The first item of business was JAM. We have chatted jam before, haven’t we? I began right away washing and cutting the berries. Many were fresh eating worthy- most were what I would call ‘seconds’ and perfect for processing into other things.

I made two batches of jam. Both came from a book my brother had gifted me many years ago- Baked Low Sugar Strawberry Jam and Spiced Strawberry Jam. I will say that I was low on store-bought pectin, so my jams are runnier than some people like. The spiced jam I am calling syrup and we had it on sourdough pancakes for lunch yesterday!

The next item of strawberry business was a crisp for DESSERT. My 11 year old is on a kick for wanting to do all of the dessert making. We used a recipe from a neighbor for rhubarb crisp and changed it to use our berries instead. Let me tell you… this was an absolute dream. It tasted like a sort of pudding and I couldn’t get enough. Amazing!!

I FROZE a good pan full of berries for smoothies etc. down the road. They will most definitely come in handy.

Another thing my family loves besides smoothies are smoothie POPSICLES. These were yummy too! They made for a fresh and light dessert.

Finally, I tried a new recipe for STRAWBERRY LEMONADE CONCENTRATE. In all honesty, we haven’t drank any yet! But, it sure looks good! There are many recipes out there and I actually first heard of this idea from Michelle at More Than Farmers on youtube- she uses raspberries! We are looking forward to some picnic weather and reconstituting our lemonade with water, sparkling water, etc. and enjoying with chicken salad sandwiches! Stoppppp.

Greens

I will be boring here and say that I had only one item on the agenda for these greens- SUPER GREENS POWDER. I have mentioned making it here before. Once processed into a powder, this healthy goodness can be added to many, many dishes! Obviously it is green, so adding it to some things many be taboo. I add it to all of my soups and stews; every savory rice dish; and many casseroles. Add it to sauces! It can even be added in small doses to brownies and sweets! Here is the boost: approx. 1 Tbsp=1 cup of veggies (greens).

The containers I got were a mixture of greens- lettuces, spinach, arugula, etc. I am picky to get this type of green organic because it falls into the ‘dirty dozen’ list of most pesticide sprayed fresh foods. These packages were prewashed and ready to go! So, I took one container per dehydrator tray (I have this dehydrator plus two additional trays) and spread the greens on thickly. I only ended up with a small handful that didn’t dry completely… the hens got those!

Next, dry the greens. I set mine at 135* (veggie setting). It takes around 10-12 hours. I usually let mine go overnight and check in the morning. Once they are completely crunchy-dry, I add them to a blender (my 11 year old helped with this part) and process them into powder. Each batch (7 boxes of 5 oz. greens=7 trays) yielded about 3/4 pint of powder. Label and store! Be sure the powder is dry before adding a lid. Sometimes the heat of the blender can be tricky, but nothing too hot.

So, there you have it! A few tips for preserving some bulk finds! It will be much easier to get things in season at better prices. Look for second hand preserving tools if you want to try and save some up front!

What do you preserve??