Wild Spring Plant Foods: The Foxfire Americana Library (7) (9 page)

Strawberry leaves are used to make a delicately flavored tea, said to be good for bladder infections.

Jam: put a quart of berries in a pot, add a cup of sugar, and bring to a boil, stirring gently. Boil three minutes, add another cup of sugar and boil three more minutes; then add a final cup of sugar, skim off foam and put in jars and seal. Or boil for five minutes one cup strawberries and one teaspoon vinegar. Add one cup sugar and boil fifteen minutes; skim while hot. Set aside to cool all day or overnight before putting in jars. Or cook four pounds of berries in porcelain kettle. Boil juice first. Add two pounds sugar, and boil again. Skim and put in jars.

Wild strawberry preserves: To a quart of strawberries, add one cup of sugar and three tablespoons water. Boil slowly fifteen minutes. Let stand overnight. Next morning, bring to boiling point and pour in jars while hot. Or dissolve nine cups sugar in one cup water, add
eight cups berries and boil fifteen minutes. Skim; seal in jars. Or boil equal weight berries and water for ten minutes. Set overnight. Pour in shallow pans, cover with glass. Set in sunlight until it thickens, then pour in jars.

Canned strawberries: fill hot jars two-thirds full with berries. Make a syrup of one quart of water, one cup sugar, and fill jars. Berries are not cooked.

Strawberry leather: mash ripe berries to pulp, spread on platters. When dry, dust with sugar and roll up like a jelly cake into pieces. Pack into clean jars.

Strawberry gelatin: use one package red fruit gelatin, one cup boiling water, one pint wild strawberries. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water, add berries, chill. Serve with cream, and garnish with whole berries.

Strawberry mallow: use two cups wild strawberries, one-half cup sugar, few grains salt, half pound marshmallows cut up, one cup cream. Mix together and chill. Top with whole berries.

Strawberry pie: use three cups flour, one cup lard, one teaspoon salt, one egg, five tablespoons cold water, one tablespoon vinegar, strawberry filling. Sift flour, mix with lard, salt, cold water, and vinegar. Mix well and roll out dough; put in greased pie pan. Bake fifteen minutes. Make filling of one cup crushed strawberries, one-half cup sugar, two tablespoons cornstarch, and one cup water. Cook into a syrup. Fill pie crust with fresh strawberries, pour syrup over top and serve. Or use one quart berries, one and one-half cups sugar, one tablespoon flour, one-fourth pound butter. Cook berries a few minutes, put in deep pie pan or dish, cover with a short biscuit crust, dot with butter, and bake until crust is brown. Or put a layer of strawberries in a pan, sprinkle with sugar, then a layer of biscuit dough; keep layering until almost to top of pan. Bake until top is brown.

Strawberries and pieplant (rhubarb): cook pieplant with sugar just before it is done, add a cup of strawberries, let cool and eat.

Strawberry leaf greens: the leaves of wild strawberries were sometimes eaten along with blackberry leaves, fried in grease, or boiled in water with fatback added.