What to preserve right now?

This question was posed by a reader earlier this week:

... I am also wondering if you have any thoughts about what summer veggies

 I should stock in a freezer now before they become scarce? 

and how would I best preserve them? The parsley suggestion (earlier post) 

is a great one, does that work with other herbs? Like basil?

This is a great question! I thought about three criteria in shaping my answer:

Strawberry Popsicles

Some of those 8 quarts of strawberries have been reconstituted into Strawberry Popsicles! We're waiting for the Rutabaga to wake up from his nap to try them. I can't wait!

Guest Post: Fashionably late

“Fashionably late” has always been a life style that my wife and I have truly embraced.  So when she walked in the house carrying a full flat (read: 8 quarts!!) of red ripe strawberries 30min before we’re supposed to leave on vacation, how could I be mad?  I was conflicted at best; part “what the *&%!” and part “that is going to taste unbelievable”.

Probably not surprising, but my stomach prevailed over my need to be punctual and I sided with “delicious” and we were late yet again.  I doubt any of our friends will remember the annoyance of a few extra minutes of wait when we’re plying them with fresh strawberry jam or summer sweet strawberry sauce in December.

Strawberry Sorbet

In the last 24 hours I've made two batches of strawberry sorbet. The first batch was from here. Delicious, but too sweet for The Husband. Today in paying more attention to the taste of a strawberry, I realized that the flavor of a strawberry is not overwhelmingly sweet, its actually just a touch sour. I needed to make a sorbet that reflected this balance of flavors and wasn't overwhelming sweet. I tinkered with this recipe next. I used basically their list of ingredients, the process from the first recipe, and reduced the sugar down to 1/2c. The second batch of sorbet is still "ripening" in the freezer, but I just snuck a bite. I think we're onto something here.

From the first batch:

See, the reason I'm so excited about sorbet is that since not eating dairy anymore, ice cream is out. It's been a real bummer not being able to enjoy this summertime ritual the last two years. But sorbet offers hope again of summer time sweetness and the fun of teaching the Rutabaga how to eat from an "ice cream" cone.

  

Strawberries for the winter

I love strawberries. Love them. I will love them even more in January when there is nothing fresh or local to be seen for miles. So tonight I took 3 quarts of strawberries and they went from here...

To here...

 To here.

I think there are two strawberries near the top of that package making a heart. Now that's a whole lot of love. I am working right now to make several of these packages to tide us through the winter. I do no more to them than wash, cut, and vacuum seal. The smoothies are going to be delicious this winter.

Simple dessert - Chocolate covered strawberries

Chocolate covered strawberries. A simple dairy-free dessert to enjoy the fruits of the season.

I brought some down to the boys at the end of the 3rd period tonight. It was a good thing I had made a second plate in addition to these. Lesson learned though, put them on wax paper. Otherwise, the chocolate sticks to the plate. Ooops. Although, no one seemed to mind scraping the chocolate off the plate. Delicious.