INGREDIENTS:

= 2 kg 500 g (about 3 lb.) Strawberries

= 1 kg 800 g sugar

= 1/3 cup Cognac or Brandy

= Juice from 1 lemon  

COOKING:

1. Wash strawberries in cold water and drain thoroughly. Hull them and discard the caps. Place strawberries on a drying mat and leave them to dry. Do not cut strawberries.

2. Put all strawberries in a large jam pot (I use Mauviel Hammered Copper Jam Pot 11½ qt.) and cover it with a half amount of sugar – 900 g. Let is sit at room temperature for at least 2-3 hours or even overnight to produce its juice.

3. Put the jam pot with strawberries on the stove and start cooking on medium heat, gradually adding the remaining sugar to the pot. Shake the pot or you can use a wooden spoon with a long handle to stir the strawberries carefully to make sure that sugar did not get stuck to the bottom of the pot or to its sides – make sure all sugar has dissolved. Shake the pot from time to time to allow for even heating.

4. When strawberries start to boil, remove the foam and turn off the heat. Leave your preserve to cool.

5. Put your jam pot on the stove and cook on medium heat. When it starts boiling add the lemon juice, shake the pot and bring it to the boil again, remove the foam as necessary and turn off the heat. Leave your preserve to cool.

6. For the third time bring your preserve to the boil and let it boil over medium heat for about 10 minutes shaking the pot periodically. Add the Cognac and boil for 10 more minutes removing the foam as necessary.

Be careful not to overcook the preserve. The preserve’s color should not be dark. If you drop your preserve on a cold plate the drop should stay intact and does not spread out – your preserve is ready.

7. Ladle your hot preserve into hot and sterilized jars. Close the jars and turn them up side down and let cool completely.

You can keep your strawberry preserve in the pantry; after opening keep it in the fridge.