If you can't stand the heat...

Welcome to Violet's Freshly Squeezed Lemonade and Homemade Strawberry Preserves Stand!

What? Don't believe that Violet can cook more than Easy Mac? Behold, my friends...

My Sunday football pre-game party consisted of making and canning strawberry preserves. I've done this one other time before and love being able to share the finished product with my friends and family. Apparently, there is some disbelief that I would (a) be interested in an activity like this and (b) would actually be successful in the endeavor. Ahhh... if only you knew me so well.

First, I gathered the ingredients. Simple recipe. 4 tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped; 6 cups of ripe strawberries, cut in halves; 1/4 cup lemon juice; 4 cups of sugar.

I like this recipe because you don't have to use fruit pectin, which can be a pain in the arse. The apples substitute for it.

The thing about making preserves is the fact that it isn't as hard as it looks. The problem is that it is time consuming. As you can see, cutting up the fruit can be somewhat tedious.

Then, everything except the sugar goes into the pot on the stove. Once the fruit reaches a full boil, you toss in the sugar and let it simmer for about 40 minutes. The hardest step is sterilizing, filling, and processing the jars of preserves.

But, the end result is always great.

It is even better when I get to hand them to people and say "Oh, by the way, I whipped up some strawberry preserves over the weekend and thought you might like some."

*Photos and rum smoothies by Dave Morris.