Those of you that freeze some of the strawberry perfectness, how do you do it? Rinse, cap, dry, lay in a single layer, bag when frozen? In syrup? some other way?
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee]
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!
[/QUOTE]
:::looks at self:::
:::checks birth certificate:::
Nope, not Korean.
Except in my heart, apparently. This song perfectly expresses my love of strawberries.
MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
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.
[/QUOTE]
Where did you go picking??? Butler’s says they don’t start picking strawberries until mid-late May. I WANT STRAWBERRIES!
[QUOTE=BetsQ]
Where did you go picking??? Butler’s says they don’t start picking strawberries until mid-late May. I WANT STRAWBERRIES!
[/QUOTE]
What part of Maryland are you in?
I went to Miller Farm, in Clinton (off of Piscataway Road in Prince George’s County). This does seem a tad early but I’m not complaining!
Strawberry Muffins
2-1/4 cups all-purpose white flour
1 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup whole or low-fat milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt (or regular or light (not non-fat) sour cream)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1-1/2 to 3 cups fresh strawberries, diced into roughly blueberry-sized chunks
~ 1 Tbsp demererra sugar/Sugar in the Raw for garnish (Lift a packet or two from Starbucks next time you’re there.)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease standard-sized muffin tin cups or coat with non-stick spray. (Or, use paper muffin cup liners, if desired.)
Thoroughly stir together flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a 1-quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Remove pan from heat; stir in milk. Then, using a fork, beat in egg, vanilla, and almond extracts until well blended. Add milk mixture and yogurt to the flour mixture, stirring until just until dry ingredients are evenly moistened and incorporated; don’t overmix or the batter can toughen. Gently stir in berries just until distributed evenly.
Using a 1/2-cup measure or large spoon, immediately divide batter among muffin cups; the cups should be almost full. Sprinkle tops with the demerrera sugar (or use 1 tablespoon granulate sugar), dividing it among them.
Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until the muffins are tinged with gold on top and springy to the touch; a toothpick inserted into the thickest part should come out clean. Cool on wire rack 3 or 4 minutes; if no paper liners were used, gently run a knife around cups and remove muffins from their cups. Let stand until cooled. They are best when fresh, but can be kept airtight for a day or so.
The original recipe I adapted this from said it would make 10-12 standard sized muffins. I usually double the amount of fruit the original called for (about 3 cups total), and I usually have a yield of around 18 standard sized muffins, or else a dozen standard sized muffins plus a dozen mini-muffins.
Prefer blueberriy muffins? Skip the almond extract, using a total of 1 tsp vanilla extract instead, toss in about 1 tsp of grated orange peel, and substitute blueberries for strawberries in the recipe above.
Makes 10 or 12 standard-sized muffins.
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
Oh gods, it’s gonna be that season again!
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.
[/QUOTE]
That was what I opened the thread to say! YUM.
One specification: Use the expensive balsamic vinegar solo on the strawberries, if you have it, for an utterly, utterly decadent experience. I needed a cigarette after that. NOM NOM NOM.
Wow you folks are amazing. Me, I have been good for quite a few quarts of strawberry or strawberry/blueberry jam over the years. Aside from eating them fresh, I’ve not been as adventurous. This year, I don’t know if I will be able to score and jamm up. Life, so complex.
Mmmmm. Strawberries !!
Cartooniverse
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
What part of Maryland are you in?
I went to Miller Farm, in Clinton (off of Piscataway Road in Prince George’s County). This does seem a tad early but I’m not complaining!
[/QUOTE]
Silver Spring, inside the beltway. I could definitely make it down there this weekend!
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
Those of you that freeze some of the strawberry perfectness, how do you do it? Rinse, cap, dry, lay in a single layer, bag when frozen? In syrup? some other way?
[/QUOTE]
I’ve always just capped, cleaned and (maybe) sliced into chunks then dumped them into a freezer bag. Don’t know how well they thaw since I always use them frozen, in smoothies. I do know you can thaw them and make good jam if that’s your thing, but you should have made jam in the first place with the fresh berries.
I made 24 8oz jars of strawberry jam (very good batches too, if I do say so) and suddenly I have so many friends.
I have always found that frozen strawberries aren’t very good once they have been defrosted. They are sloppy and watery and seem to lose some of their taste. Raspberries on the other hand retain their texture and taste, with defrosted ones almost indistinguishable from fresh ones.
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow]
Alton quick freezes 'em with dry ice so they’re available all year long.
Aside from that, I got nothin’ to add.
[/QUOTE]
I think that’s where I got the idea to use a frosting bag tip to hull the strawberries…never, ever cap them!
However, his “strawberry pudding” recipe is ten kinds of hideousness.
[QUOTE=shiftless]
I made 24 8oz jars of strawberry jam (very good batches too, if I do say so) and suddenly I have so many friends.
[/QUOTE]
shiftless, how YOU doin’? 
I did make 5 cups of freezer jam - don’t trust myself to do the kind where you have to sterilize the jars and so forth - and though I’m not a jam/jelly person, I tasted some and it was very, very nice. Tasted “brighter” than store-bought, if that makes any sense.
[QUOTE=YWalker]
Strawberry Muffins
…snip yummy-sounding recipe…
Makes 10 or 12 standard-sized muffins.
[/QUOTE]
Those sound delicious! I’d have to substitute vanilla (or maybe orange or lemon?) extract as there be food allergies here.
Strawberry Banana Salad
1 lb. strawberries, hulled and sliced, divided use
2 large ripe bananas, sliced
1 C raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/2C sugar or equivalent of Splenda
Set aside half cup of the strawberries. Mix the remainder with the banana slices. Put the set-aside strawberries in the food processor or blender with raspberries and sugar/Splenda; This makes the “dressing” for the salad. Toss the sliced fruit with the dressing and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve it.
Leftovers of this salad (yeah, like there’s leftovers! 
) make an excellent topping for vanilla ice cream.
We also like to buy dark chocolate “melting chips” and dip fresh strawberries in dark chocolate. But now I really, really want to try some of the recipes with balsamic vinegar!
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
:::looks at self:::
:::checks birth certificate:::
Nope, not Korean.
Except in my heart, apparently. This song perfectly expresses my love of strawberries.
MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm
[/QUOTE]
Nothing to get hung about!
Strawberry fields forever!
[QUOTE=Big Bad Voodoo Lou]
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.
[/QUOTE]
We took advantage of the store strawberries a while back, but now Publix is trying to get rid of their GIANT SHIPMENT OF STRAWBERRIES FROM CALIFORNIA, so they’re on sale.
In our garden, we have two strawberry plants. So far, we’ve gotten one awesome little strawberry, and two failberries. We do, however, have a ton of little green berries and flowers we’re waiting on, so we’ll have strawberries again soon. Yum!
I miss the pick-your-own places down in Palm Beach County and the warnings to not eat the strawberries before you pay for them “because they’re covered in pesticides”. Good times.
The ones in a recent Coco’s pie were awful–not sweet, too hard, just plain unpleasant.
The ones I bought today at Trader Joe’s were delightful.
This morning, I made a batch of the Strawberry Muffins from the recipe that YWalker posted.
They turned out great! Although I can’t eat them (damned diabetes), my daughter and my grandmother LOVED them. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to make more for my husband, when he gets home.
I might add that they smell delicious!
Thank you so much for the recipe, YWalker!
I’m so glad they enjoyed them! They’re my sons’ favorite.
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa]
Those sound delicious! I’d have to substitute vanilla (or maybe orange or lemon?) extract as there be food allergies here.
[/QUOTE]
The original recipe I based this on did use just vanilla. I just tweaked it to add the almond flavoring because I think it marries so well with strawberries.
[QUOTE=YWalker]
Strawberry Muffins
(snip recipe)
[/QUOTE]
Typo Knig and I made this tonight, part of dealing with 20-ish pounds of berries (yum). Very good muffins! I wound up doubling the recipe, and using a bit over 2 cups of fruit per recipe. This yielded 30 muffins. Possibly I didn’t chop the berries enough as there were pretty large chunks of fruit in places. And the muffins themselves really stuck to the wrappers so next time, I think I’ll just spray the muffin tins and bake them directly in the tins.
Also made:
- One more batch freezer jam
- 4 recipes of strawberry-rhubarb cobbler (one in fridge, to be topped and baked tomorrow, the other 3 in zip-locs in the freezer for similar treatment in the future)
- Strawberry lemonade
- Also conducted a lot of quality control
