Macerated Strawberries

These macerated strawberries are made with just 2 real ingredients (strawberries and sugar). And they come together in just 2 steps with no cooking. And that’s as it should be! Maceration simply means allowing the sugar to draw a bit of moisture out of the berries while softening them slightly and concentrating their flavor. And by keeping our ingredients simple, we’re allowing the strawberry flavor to really shine.

Speaking of keeping it simple, here’s everything you need to know about why this recipe is the best:

• I include instructions for both fresh and frozen berries. Most recipes don’t treat frozen berries properly, but this recipe uses a method that works much better than any other I’ve found.
• There’s a quick option and a next-day option, depending on how much time you have (and there’s a shortcut for you, whether you’re using fresh or frozen).
• I’ve got lots of serving ideas (everything from oatmeal to strawberry lemonade).

If you’re ready to hit the ground running, jump to the recipe. Or read on for a little more info on my fresh vs. frozen macerated strawberry methods.

Fresh vs. Frozen Strawberries

Most recipes will tell you that the biggest problem with using frozen strawberries is that they give off too much moisture. This is simply not true.

High-quality frozen strawberries have the same moisture content as fresh. As long as you thaw them slowly, they will not turn to mush and give off too much liquid. Instead, when tossed with sugar, they will give off a very similar amount of liquid as fresh.

In fact, we want them to give off a decent amount of liquid. As long as we’re adding enough sugar, that liquid will become syrupy rather than watery. And honestly, the syrup is the best part.

So anyway, this is just my plea to please please not discard the liquid from your frozen berries. Just be sure to add enough sugar and follow the recipe below, and they’ll turn out as good as fresh. Feel free to check out the video if you need to see it with your own eyes. I’ve included a quick little time lapse.

How to use macerated strawberries:

You can use macerated strawberries with the berries + juice together, with just the berries, or just the juices. It depends on what you want to use them for!

I’ve broken things down into these 3 categories, with lots of ideas for putting them to use:

1. Strawberries + their juices:

• Atop and blended into strawberry oatmeal*
• On yogurt with chopped nuts or granola
• Over strawberry shortcakes
• Instead of maple syrup on pancakes/waffles/crêpes/etc.

2. Just the strawberries (drained):

• On a custard fruit tart
• Spooned over cheesecake slices
• Folded into homemade ice cream before freezing

3. Just the juices:

• As a light simple syrup for a not-too-sweet cocktail or with soda water
• In sweet tea (er, not-too-sweet tea, I suppose!)
• To sweeten pink lemonade (but be sure to add a little extra sugar and pink food coloring if you want a more classic version).

* Just a quick note that this strawberry oatmeal recipe I linked to uses a half recipe of these macerated berries. So if you make the macerated berries on this page, you’ll only need half of them for that recipe.

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