Are in season here in the DC metro area and I am in my annual frenzy as it only lasts about 2 weeks.
Picked 2 large traysful yesterday and they’re all gone. Some into freezer jam. Some into pies (one of which is waiting consumption tonight. We gave away :: the other one). Quite a few were sliced up, sprinkled with enough sugar to make them develop syrup, and poured over ice cream. And a not-inconsiderable number were sacrificed on the altar of… Quality control. Yeah, that’s the ticket: ‘Quality control’. :::urp::: Some will probably get bathed in chocolate tonight.
So, like any self-respecting strawberry junkie, all I can think of is getting more, More, MORE.
What other fun things can one do with fresh strawberries?
Ice cream: check. Got a 20 year old Donvier (you freeze the cylinder) and a recipe shouldn’t be hard to come by.
Bread/cake/muffins: recipe requested (especially if it freezes well; we’ve got family coming in July and it would be nice to serve them something homebaked).
Anything else?
The pie is a wonderful recipe, but uses a disproportionate amount of berries: you mush up a bunch and cook them with sugar / corn starch for the glaze, rather than :::shudder::: Jello.
I bought a pound last week. I ate about a third of them as is, and the rest was strawberry “shortcake.” Except not that fancy. Hull the strawberries, chop them a bit, add some sugar (about 1/6th a cup in my case) mix them up and pour over slices of pound cake. Then squirt with whipped cream. For a lower fat alternative, use lightly toasted frozen waffles instead of pound cake (or instead of buttermilk biscuits, which is also yummy).
I sprinkle sliced berries generously with Splenda and then spoon them over that thick Greek nonfat yogurt - “Fage”, I believe it’s called. It tastes as delicious and unctuous as the sugary, fatty kinds of fruit yogurt. In fact, it tastes better.
slice’em in half, and mix them with a mixture of sugar and balsamic vinegar. You can let’em sit for an hour or so to soak up the flavor. My favorite thing to do with strawberries, bar none.
I rent my farmland out to a local strawberry farmer. Part of the pay is in strawberries, which means we’ll be getting about 40 quarts or so. Fresh picked. Needing to be cleaned and frozen, since we won’t be eating more than a few quarts before they go bad. Which is a busy, time-consuming task. For my wife and daughter, anyway.
My fave recipe: dip 'em in balsamic vinegar, then powdered sugar. Very yummy. I kid you not.
Florida’s strawberry season seems to have come and gone already, back in March. But I also love slicing them up thin and marinating them in balsamic vinegar. Then I pour them over Breyer’s vanilla ice cream and they are awe-inspiringly good.
I don’t know how the rum would marry with the sour cream, but give it a try. The original is called Strawberries Romanov, and yes, you drink the strawberry vodka with it.
There’s this Korean song about strawberries that expressed my feelings perfectly. It goes like:
Went to the strawberry farm
Ate strawberries all day
Why is the day only 24 hours?
Strawberries are yummy!
I like strawberries!
Strawberries are yummy!
I like strawberries!
Strawberries are yummy!
I like strawberries!
Strawberries are yummy!
I like strawberries!
Do any of you remember when strawberries were packed into little wooden splintery quart boxes? Those little boxes were invented in my home town of 2,000 (now) in Gibson County, Tennessee. And most of them were made at the Fruit Box Manufacturing Company in town. That’s because the absolute best strawberries in the world once grew there. Starting about the first week of May, the population of our little county would increase from a handful of people to 10,000. And those strawberries would ship out all over the country. I never got my fill.
The best thing that I ever ate was my mother’s strawberry shortcake. She used layers of piecrust cut in circles. I think that she buttered the layers and added sweetened made-from-scratch whipped cream and sweetened sliced up berries in their juice between the layers and on top.
That’s the only time I can remember her leaving the dishes for later. We all ate so much that we had to go lie down and groan.
That’s the same here in the UK, but for California substitute Spain. Near where I live there is a “pick your own” fruit farm where you can gather your own crop. This works out cheaper than buying them in the shops. That should be up and running mid June.
I have heard you should sprinkle a little black pepper on them to bring out the taste.
In the DC area myself. I just picked 20lbs in Va Beach last week. I put up 15 lbs in jam and most of the rest cleaned and frozen (my hands are red!). Eventually we will use the frozen for smoothies. The great thing about frozen fruit is that the smoothie doesn’t need ice. Just toss gobs of frozen fruit, some fresh and some juice into the blender, puree for a while and Bob’s you uncle.
: the other one). Quite a few were sliced up, sprinkled with enough sugar to make them develop syrup, and poured over ice cream. And a not-inconsiderable number were sacrificed on the altar of… Quality control. Yeah, that’s the ticket: ‘Quality control’. :::urp::: Some will probably get bathed in chocolate tonight.