How many times have you forgotten about the pint of strawberries you purchased earlier in the week? I personally think mine age about a week as soon as I walk through the front door. This recipe makes great use of berries that are far from scoring a seat on your fruit platter, but not quite ready for the trash can (or compost, ahem).
This recipe uses 4 simple ingredients: sugar, lemons (zest and juice), strawberries, and water.
You will need 5 or 6 lemons for this recipe in order to obtain about 1 cup of lemon juice. So, how do you pick a nice juicy lemon? Try to choose one that feels heavy for its size and don't shy away from lemons with points on the ends, often they will yield more juice.
1. You will need 1 cup of lemon juice. Start by zesting (using a wrasp or microplane zester) 5 or 6 lemons. Then cut them in half and squeeze them through a strainer (to catch seeds and pulp) into a liquid measuring cup.
2. You will need about 2 cups of strawberries (if you have a little less, don't freak out). Go ahead and hull them. Then cut the smaller berries in half and the bigger guys into quarters.
3. Add the lemon zest, berries, 1 cup of granulated sugar, and 1 cup of water to a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat.
4. Once the mixture has cooled (slightly) strain the mixture in to a bowl. (See Below)
5. Using a spatula, stir and squish the berries (yes, those are technical terms). They still have a lot of juice in them. Then scrape the underside of the strainer to get the good stuff (basically a strawberry puree) into the bowl.
6. Pour the ruby, syrupy, liquid into a pitcher and add the 1 cup of lemon juice. This is essentially a concentrate. You can add flat, filtered water or a fizzy, sparkling water (for a little effervescence) to dilute the entire mixture. You could also add 3 or 4 tablespoons per glass of water.
It's like summer in a glass! Feel free to add vodka. Can't have too much of a good thing, right?!
~L
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