• Wash and quarter your strawberries and add them to a 2-quart saucepan. If your strawberries are small, just halve them.
• Add the sugar and lemon juice to the pan with the strawberries and heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the liquid begins to simmer.
• Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the fruit to be soft but still mostly maintain its shape and be mushy by the end of the 6 minutes of simmering.
• Remove the cooked strawberries from the heat and pour through a metal strainer. You can gently press the strawberries to help get the syrup out, but don't press the berries through the strainer. You want just the syrup, not puree.
• Use the cooked fruit to add to oatmeal, smoothies, etc.
• Allow the syrup to cool completely. You can use it as-is or add strawberry extract for a stronger strawberry flavor (more on that below).
• Store the syrup in a glass or plastic container with a tight-fitting lid and keep it in the fridge. This should last a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Concentrated syrup options:

• If you'd like additional flavor in this syrup, you can add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of natural strawberry extract. You can also whisk in 1 tablespoon of freeze-dried strawberry powder to help thicken the syrup and add some extra flavor. This is optional, however, and the syrup tastes great by itself.
• Another option is to double this batch and once you have strained out the syrup, return it back to the saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat for an additional 5-10 minutes to thicken the syrup and make it more concentrated.