Strawberry Preserves with Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper

A preserve, as distinct from a jam, is pieces of fruit suspended in a thickened but not gelled syrup. It doesn't spread like a jam. It pours, or at least drizzles—on yogurt or pancakes or creme fraiche or ice cream.

This recipe for STRAWBERRY PRESERVES WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND BLACK PEPPER calls for a two-step cooking, but ironically it results in very lightly cooked berries. The first heating is really just to force the berries to shed some water so that sugar can penetrate the fruit. That's all preserving is.

The next day, the berries are boiled again, but—borrowing a neat technique from Christine Ferber, France's Queen of Confiture—we first reduce the liquid released by the macerating berries before adding the berries for their brief cooking. Voila, more fresh berry flavor.

This combination of strawberries with balsamic vinegar and black pepper may strike some as odd but is in fact quite traditional in Italy. Rest assured that there will be no post-modern gobbledygook on SAVING THE SEASON.

These berries came from the Santa Monica Farmers Market, bought at a stand that is notorious among my foodie friends for its snooty attitude and high prices. Sadly I can't dispute the reputation: I paid $16 for three punts of Gaviota berries which worked out to $6.50 per pound. And that is, let's be frank, larceny.

But I literally smelled the berries on the breeze as I walked through the market, and, intoxicated by the fragrance, I briefly lost my wits and willingly paid whatever it cost to take them home. That is the danger—the siren call—of good fruit.

STRAWBERRY PRESERVES WITH BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND BLACK PEPPER

2.5 pounds of the smallest, most fragrant strawberries (when cut as below, it measured 7 cups loosely packed)

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1  Rinse berries quickly if necessary. Do not soak! Remove caps and cut into quarters or smaller, equal sized pieces.

2  Toss trimmed berries with lemon juice, then stir in sugar and leave to macerate for an hour or more. Once the berries have released their liquid, turn the berry-fruit mixture into a preserving pan and rapidly bring to a boil. Immediately remove from the heat, allow to cool, then cover and place in the fridge overnight.

3  The next day, there will be even more liquid in the berry-sugar mix, and the berries will already appear partially preserved.

4  Pour the berries through a colander to capture the liquid in a bowl. Put liquid into a preserving pan and reduce over high heat until it begins to thicken—about 5 minutes of boiling.

5  Add berries to preserving pan, return to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes longer until berries are transluscent and hot all the way through. Add balsamic vinegar and pepper and stir through the boiling mixture. A jell test will reassure you that the liquid is sufficiently thickened but remember it will NOT set up into a firm jelly.

6  Skim any foam, ladle into prepared half-pint jars and seal. Process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.

YIELD

2.5 pounds berries yielded 2 pints preserves

4 x 8 oz

Comments

[Lena]

Thank you Kevin. Just in time for my Sunday jam-fest (which will now stretch into Monday, oh well! It will give me something to do tomorrow night after work!).
I wish I lived closer so that I could attend one of your classes. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend. I'm off to make my kitchen smell heavenly....

[Sean]

I'd say great minds think alike, but that would be flattering myself too much. I did very much the same thing right around the same time as you: http://hedonia.seantimberlake.com/hedonia/2010/05/strawberry-jam-with-balsamic-and-black-pepper.html. Shortly thereafter I made another batch with Campari in lieu of balsamic and pepper. Also highly recommendable.

[Andy]

I'm probably going to make this in the next couple days. Looking it over, I'm wondering if I can up the balsamic and pepper amounts. 1/8 teaspoon in that whole batch doesn't sound like enough to taste. I made a balsamic strawberry ice cream last summer and it used a high level of the vinegar, which I really loved. Will that work here?

Looks great, and I like your blog a lot.

[Kevin West]

Hi Andy --

Thanks for your comment --

It prompted me to take down a jar of strawberry preserve to taste. (Good!) I have to say that I myself like the intensity (or lack thereof) of the the pepper and the balsamic -- which is to say that both are secondary to the strawberry. In general, it's true, i like secondary flavorings to be fairly muted, and I think I would stick with this recipe in the future. (although looking at the recipe again, i think what i'm going to do is to give an amount for whole peppercorns rather than ground pepper -- whole is easier to measure).

HOWEVER...

Taste is very personal and I encourage you to add more pepper and/or balsamic to suit your preference. I can certainly imagine adding another tablespoon of balsamic to this batch and adding more pepper as well.

My one note of caution is that aromatics do tend to intensify in the jar -- whereas ice cream (or cold generally) tends to flatten some flavors -- so bear in mind that large additions of pungent ingredients could become overwhelming --

but otherwise good luck with it -- let me know how things turn out --

best
kevin

[Deb]

Can't tell you how much I love this recipe. Of all the things I've put up, this is the most requested thing- thank you so much!