Canning Strawberry Pie Filling
Strawberry pie filling is probably my most favorite of all pie fillings to can! AND I never use it for pie filling! I can it in pints to use as waffle/pancake toppings, mixed into yogurt, oatmeal, cheesecake topping, you name it. OR on the rare occasion, a single crust pie topped with homemade whipped raw cream… ohhhhh my goodness.
This is really easy to make. A few tips from me are #1 use the blanching liquid from the strawberries to make the “filling” and #2 I never use clear jel. Yes, that’s rebel canning, but it’s so unbelievably expensive around here and I get something similar called thermflo from my local Amish store that works great and is less than half the price of clear jel. Be sure that it is a “cook type” thickener and not an instant one. Feel free to double, triple, quadruple, this recipe!
Ingredients
Yield: ~8 pints or 4 quarts
4 pounds sliced strawberries
4 cups water
1 1/4 cup clear jel or thickener of choice
3 cups sugar (or less)
4 Tbs lemon juice
Instructions
Boil 4 cups of water in a stock pot.
Wash and slice strawberries. Weigh out 4 pounds after removing tops and slicing.
Blanch berries in groups for 1 minute. Remove from boiling water with a slotted spoon to a bowl and cover to keep warm. In between batches of berries, allow the water to return to a full boil before adding another batch of berries. Once all berries are blanched, remove stock pot from heat.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together clear jel and sugar, then add to stock pot with blanching liquid, whisking while adding.
Return stock pot to medium-low heat, whisking to incorporate. Stir constantly until mixture begins to thicken and starts to bubble.
Add in lemon juice and bring back to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
Remove stock pot from heat and fold in berries.
Canning
Into prepared pint or quart jars, ladle in pie filling. Debubble as needed and maintain 1 1/4” -1 1/2” headspace.
Process both pint and quart jars for 30 mins in a boiling waterbath. Adjust as needed for elevation.
When canning time is up, turn off heat and allow canning pot to set undisturbed for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove lid and allow jars to cool 10 more minutes before removing completely from hot water. This allow the pie filling to cool slower and prevent siphoning which is an unholy mess with pie filling.
Happy Canning!
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