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This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking them, we will be compensated, but there is no additional cost to you. All opinions expressed are our own. Thank you for your support.  When I am able to get strawberries at a good price, I am always happy because I love strawberries. This past week, surprisingly, our local Kroger grocery store had strawberries for .47 per 1 pound basket. Of course I bought some. There was a limit of 5 baskets, which would be plenty for a good batch of jam, or to freeze some. I have so much jam that I need to use before I add more to the mix and I toyed with freezing them for smoothies, but then I saw a few posts from people about canning them. I thought it seemed like a good idea because If my freezer or electricity were to go out, I would lose frozen strawberries or have to use them up really quickly. Besides, I've canned blackberries before and they turned out great! Well.... I went ahead and canned my 5 lbs of strawberries and sadly the result wasn't as good as I had hoped.  The color washes out of them during the canning process and they are pretty mushy. Here is the process that I used to can them. If you are more successful at canning strawberries than I have been, please tell me your secrets after you read what I did.
My jars sealed perfectly. From 5 pounds of strawberries, I canned 3 quarts and 1 pint. Immediately, I saw the strawberry color had gone a mushy looking white. I was sad. But, I thought that maybe they would taste better than they would look. So, I opened a jar. They seemed mushy, so I didn't want to eat one plain. I'm weird like that. I decided to make a smoothie. Here is what I put in it: Canned Strawberry Smoothie 4 Ice cubes 5 spinach leaves 1 banana 1/2 quart bottle of canned strawberries, juice and all. 1/2 cup vanilla homemade yogurt Honey or sugar to taste, or just leave it out. Whirr it all up in the blender! Normally, when I make a smoothie with strawberries, it looks red in the end. This time, the spinach overtook the strawberries, and even the 1 banana flavor was more prominent. It tasted pretty good, just not like I was hoping.  Kind of a St. Patrick's Day look. The other half of the jar of strawberries is sitting in my fridge. I'd better make another smoothie because I don't think anyone else will look at them and chose to eat them. Luckily there will be only 2 jars to go after this jar is gone. I gave the quart jar to my granddaughter, Emily, because she helped me can them. Lindsey says that maybe they will make a good pancake topping. I am dubious because of the color thing. Maybe if they are blended up with the juice they will be more appetizing. Well, it was worth a try and I won't let them go to waste. It just goes to show that some foods are better fresh, frozen or turned into jam! Also, dehydrated and freeze dries strawberries are great. Like I said earlier, if you have had a better experience with canning them and know of a better method, please let me know and maybe I will try it again! Meanwhile, here are some more successful canning stories! 
4 Comments
Donald
3/30/2025 07:51:20 am
I just read this and have seen other posts canning strawberries and how they turn out mushy or even turn brown after a few months of storage. First, definitely DON'T pre-blanch them before sugaring. That works for apples and pears but with strawberries it's a killer. Just toss the whole or halved berries in sugar. Quite a lot of sugar because tge syrup that is drawn out is your canning liquid. And as yiu discovered its not much! I add a little bit bottled lemon juice and just let it sit 5 or 6 hours. If it's cool it can be on the counter, but usually I put it in the fridge. Then I pack pints with the now melted sugar/strawberry mixture and add a ¼ tsp of Pickle Crisp (calcium chloride) and water bath process 15 minutes, since nothing is hot. They turn out pretty good! They're definitely very sweet, but it's the sugar that preserves the texture of the berry. I use mine over plain Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, or as an ice cream or waffle/pancake topping. With strawberries in California now 99 cents a one-pound package, I'll be making a new batch very soon! Good luck!
Rebecca Markley
5/10/2025 09:02:22 pm
I just worked like a dog today and picked 15lbs of fresh strawberries. I was conscientious about picking smaller, firm, but fully ripe strawberries. They were beautiful. I then cleaned all the strawberries and gave them a 4c water w/1tsp baking soda to break down the pesticides. I then rinsed again. I sugared just as I have heard from directions of many who can.(youtube). I filled the jars nearly to the top and then filled with juice covering all the berries. I cleaned the rim (outside, inside, and very top edge). I placed the lid and then screwed on the ring (just finger tight like instructed by everyone I watched). I placed in already hot water (from boiling jars first) and then timed for 15min AFTER a rolling boil began. I was very unhappy when they came out nearly white and "cooked" down to half the jar and the other half was the juice. I only got 6 quarts for 15lbs of berries. That was disappointing. Then, I had two seals lift within 30min after I removed from bath. Ugh! I read that I can re-bath if the seals lift. But, I may just try to make something with those two jars. 🙄 Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to fifteen! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! 
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