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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! 
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
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Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! 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! 
Click this link and visit 3WinksDesignShop on Etsy. Find our Hot Cocoa Bomb Idea Book, our For the Love of PIe e-book and more of our creations!
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