Quick Pickled Balsamic Strawberries

Today’s guest post comes to us from Erin Urquhart, blogger at Putting Up With Erin. She’s stopped by to share her recipe for Quick Pickled Balsamic Strawberries. Welcome to Food in Jars, Erin! 

Strawberries are like gold at my farmers market. I’ve been known to spend as much as twenty minutes in line, waiting to get my hands on some locally-grown strawberries (and I have my suspicions that many of you have done the same).

Like locally grown heirloom tomatoes, strawberries are at their peak for a limited amount of time. It takes time and dedication to wait out the other shoppers in order to get the best pick, particularly if you want to have enough to can. I like to put up at least a dozen jars of various strawberry preserves and pickles to get me through the year. They take time and energy, but they’re always worth it.

In years past I’ve played with canned strawberries, pickled green strawberries, strawberry jam , and strawberry whole grain mustard. With only a week left to get my quick-pickled entry in for the Mastery Challenge, I decided to spice it up a bit and try quick pickled balsamic strawberries.

What I love the most about quick-fridge pickling is that it affords you a bit more adventure in your recipes due to modern refrigeration. Even better, because these berries never take a trip through a boiling water bath canner, they hold their texture and shape nicely.

A familiar combination for strawberry jam, the acid in the balsamic vinegar is a perfect compliment to the sweet berries. There’s no need to buy an uber fancy balsamic vinegar for this recipe. Get something that you’d buy for making quick vinaigrettes.

I used a $7 commercially produced organic balsamic vinegar that I picked up from the local food co-op. And because I wanted the pickles to have even more flavor and interest, I decided to get funky by substituting soy sauce for salt, and adding fresh thyme leaves and whole mustard seed to the mix.

The result: a sweet and tangy pickled strawberry backed by the depth of the balsamic vinegar. Enjoy this balsamic strawberry pickle as a mid-day snack with ricotta cheese, cracked black pepper, and some citrus zest, OR simply add a spoonful of pickles to a light field greens salad.

PrintQuick Balsamic Pickled Strawberries

Yield: makes 4 pints

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds strawberries (washed, stemmed, and cut in quarters)
2 cups white sugar
2 Tbsp fresh thyme
1 Tbsp mustard seed
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 cups balsamic vinegar
2 cups water

Instructions

In a medium-sized, non-ionized pot combine balsamic vinegar, water, sugar, soy sauce, thyme, and mustard seeds.
Cook on low-medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature (to avoid mushy strawberries).
Divide prepared strawberries between jars. Cover strawberries with vinegar brine (plus thyme and mustard seeds).
Wipe rims and apply lids. Place in refrigerator for at least 12 hours before consuming.3.1http://foodinjars.com/2017/04/quick-pickled-balsamic-strawberries/

 

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