Mrs. Daly’s Strawberry Preserves Recipe

I will start this strawberry preserves recipe with a warning that it is not up to current canning standards.  Setting strawberries in the sun for two days doesn’t sound like it would even come close, but I wanted to share this recipe because it is unique.  There are many recipes from over 100 years ago that are just different from the way we do things now.

Recipe

Select the finest strawberries, ripe and clean.  Hull, but do not wash.  Place on dishes under glass in the sun for two days, keeping directly in the suns rays all the time, removing the dry, warm place at night.  On third morning place in sun, put jelly glasses to heat and then make a thick syrup, using three quarts of sugar to two quarts of water, boil ten minutes.  Carefully place strawberries in hot glasses, add juice extracted from berries in your syrup, boil three minutes, pour over strawberries, set aside and when thoroughly cold seal with wax and store in dry atmosphere.  This makes a most delicious preserve.

Thanking Mrs. De Graf for her many helps to a “newlywed.”

Mrs. J. M. Daly, Menlo Park – San Francisco Chronicle – 22 May 1921