It seems such a shame to throw away some of the kitchen scraps we generate. If you are a gardener, chances are that you throw yours into the compost pile, or if you have chickens, to them. But have you ever thought of eating some of them? This recipe will teach you how to make strawberry sauce out of the scraps you may have leftover from canning or dehydrating!
There is some controversy about whether or not strawberry stems are edible. According to this article on SpoonUniversity.com, they are!
There are some that would even go as far to say that they are actually healthy helpers of arthritis pain. You can decide based on your own research whether you want to use tops or whole fruit for this strawberry syrup recipe.
Whatever you decide, choosing organic strawberries (or tops) for this strawberry syrup is prudent due to the pesticide load in non-organic.
How to Make Strawberry Sauce
Homemade Strawberry Sauce Recipe
This can be made with fresh strawberries, but for some reason when I make it from our strawberry tops, it tastes all the sweeter. See if you feel the same way as I do!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 quarts of strawberry tops from organic strawberries or 1 quart organic strawberries
- 1/2-1 cup sugar granulated
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice or juice from half a lemon
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a bowl combine strawberry tops, sugar and lemon juice.
- Stir around to incorporate the sugar and lemon juice evenly with the strawberries.
- Cover and allow to macerate in the refrigerator until the next morning.
- Add all of the contents in the bowl to your blender.
- Blend everything up, then put it all through a metal sieve to strain.
- Use a silicone spatula to scrape the inside of the sieve, allowing the juice to run through the small holes. (You may need to scrap the outside of the sieve to get all of the strawberry goodness into your bowl.)
- Once all of the juice has drained and all you have left is a lump of ground stems and pulp, give it to the chickens (remember that there is likely still some sugar left, so if your chickens have had a sugary treat already, just add the waste to your compost pile).
NOTES
This should make about 2-3 cups of syrup. Store your homemade strawberry syrup for up to two weeks in the fridge or for longer in the freezer. Use to flavor your homemade lemonade, homebrewed kombucha, over pancakes, in your iced tea or smoothies, on top of desserts, or anywhere else you would use strawberry syrup to give them all a fantastic flavor.
Want more low waste tips?
banana peel fertilizer (banana peels)
perfect homemade croutons (stale bread)
using all of the harvest in creative ways (carrots, mint, other kitchen scraps)
You’ll love being able to get more use out of the things that would have otherwise been thrown away, and likely, it will jog your thinking on how to do it with more fruits and veggies.
This homemade strawberry syrup gives strawberry tops one more stop along the way before compost pile. Making this recipe will make you feel like a domestic farm goddess!
Wonderful! Thanks so much!
You are so welcome, LSM! Glad you can use the recipe!
Thanks for sharing this I was hoping you would.
I’m a strawberry and raspberry nut; this is going to be fantastic over waffles.
You are welcome, Carole! It’s such an easy recipe and tastes great when added to pretty much anything that tastes good with a strawberry compliment. Enjoy!
What a great use for the strawberry tops! I always feel bad for throwing them out. Thanks for this awesome recipe. 🙂
I know that feeling! I’m glad you could use the recipe, Kelsey–thanks for visiting!
This is a great way to use every part of your food. Never thought of using the strawberries tops this way. thanks for sharing. Visiting from Wildcrafting Wednesdays.
Thanks Marla! This is truly the best strawberry syrup I’ve tasted!
What a great idea and a great way to minimize waste. Thanks for sharing at the Weekend Blog Hop (myflagstaffhome.com).
Jennifer
I agree, Jennifer. It’s one of the things that makes me feel so victorious in the kitchen! 😀
What a great resourceful recipe. Thanks for sharing at the Recipe Swap.
My pleasure, Kathy, thank you for the opportunity!
Oh, wow! How very clever! I’d like to feature this tomorrow at Tuesdays with a Twist! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Thanks Marci, I’ll stop by! 😀
Once again you’ve got me thinking about using leftovers in a new way! My mind is spinning, this would work on peaches, pears or apples. I guess I better get cooking…Thanks for stopping by Front Porch Friday, we’re featuring your post this week. – Shelle
There are just SO many things we can do with our scraps, Shelle! A friend just told me about “peach pit jelly” which is made from, you guessed it–peach pits (probably the non-freestone variety that some of the fruit clings to). I LOVE finding ways to stretch food and make more from it, it’s a challenge for me. Apples scraps can be used to make apple cider vinegar, and I’ll bet you can probably squeeze some pear juice from your pear scraps as well, maybe to make a jelly or something like that! So many options! Thank you so much for featuring my post, I’m so honored. 🙂
I compost 90 o/o. Reading your stuff makes it feel like a sin. I am going to restructure some things to get that feeling off me. Thanks for sharing. You are a new hate way for me THANKS.
Oh my, don’t feel that way! Not a sin at all to compost your stuff! This is just another way to use it. 🙂
Thanks for sharing at Our Simple Homestead Hop!
This was my featured post this week 🙂
Thanks so much, Sandra! 🙂
This is excellent Kristi! My seventh sense (the frugal sense) was telling me there had to be something to do with the precious strawberry tops. Have you ever tried it with honey I wonder?
I would think that would work fine, JES, but I’ve never tried it. I’ll bet it would be fantastic!
Can this be canned?
I would assume that you could, but you would need to check with someone who understands the science of canning to know for sure. I usually freeze this until I’m ready to use it.
When you say strawberry tops, are you talking about the green leaves? I’ve tried eating the leaves before but didn’t much like them. Am I understanding that you make a syrup from the green leaves on top? Or do you core the berries and use the cores?
Hi Jamie! When I say “tops” I mean the top part that you cut off…so the green leaves are present, but there’s also some strawberry on there as well. 🙂 If you are one that only removes the leaves, you can still just make this sauce from whole strawberries! 🙂
Love the idea! Thanks! Another thing I have done with them is just dehydrate the strawberry tops and add them into my teas when I make my own blends. I’ve mixed with my mint growing in the garden and maybe some lemon balm ect. It adds a subtle sweet flavor to the tea. Another thing I have tried is keeping all my scraps in a bag in my freezer (strawberry tops, apple and peach peelings, grapes that were losing their crispness but not bad yet ect) when the bag is full I took it out and put it in a saucepan, cooked until the fruit juices were released then strained and added sugar and pectin. Made a surprise mixed fruit jelly. A lot of guesswork involved with it as it is never the same but it turned out delicious. I added some apple or pumpkin spice mix once and it was extra delicious! Best part is that it is practically free jelly!