4. Strawberry
For wonderfully fruitful dishes all year around it’s smart to make your own strawberry extract. You can add this extract to any sweet dish you are making, you can even put it in drinks! Depending on how much you want to make you’ll need to adjust these measurements, but to make a decent sized batch start out with one pound of fresh strawberries. Cut them into thin slices and discard the green top. In a medium saucepan bring the strawberries and a 1 cup of water to a boil. Sprinkle in a 1/2 of a cup of organic coconut or regular granulated sugar and let simmer for another 30 minutes at reduced heat.
After 30 minutes strain the strawberry mixture through a cheese cloth to get out any lumps and clumps. Put the liquid back into the saucepan and let simmer until it turns into a syrup. Allow it to cool and you’re ready to package and store it, just be careful–this stuff is sticky! If you want to use other berries this will work great with a mixture as well.