Last week, my local produce market devoted an entire shelf of their display space to these pint boxes of fresh, local strawberries. They were selling for $3 a basket and I bought one (I wish I had gotten two or three more). When I got them home, I took them straight into the kitchen, washed a few and stood by the sink to eat the deep red fruit. The seeds were more assertive than those you find in those sturdy, pale California berries and while it was a surprise at first, I found myself enjoying the crunch, as it added a satisfying textural counterpoint to the fruit.
It seems like everyone is enjoying the abundance of berries right now. Over in the Talk section of Serious Eats, people are trading Strawberry Cake recipes. At Coconut & Lime, Rachel made Strawberry Thyme Cupcakes. Strawberry Kutchen is the dish du jour at Sunday Nite Dinner (the recipe is posted along with lots of tantalizing pictures). Or you could be like me and just chop up your fruit and eat it with yogurt and a drizzle of honey (only if the berries are tart).
What are your favorite ways to use fresh strawberries?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-13-2008 @ 1:27PM
jrsygir1 said...
i usually soak my strawberries in chambord overnight, then use them the next day...this past weekend i made strawberry cupcakes (i also made chocolate chai cupcakes that were unbelievably good)...i used an angel food batter for the cake, pressed a chambord strawberry in the batter before i put them in the oven, and frosted them with a chambord flavored pastry cream, then topped them with another chambord strawberry....they were pretty damn good....very light and airy and a little boozy. the chambord totally intensifies the strawberry flavor.
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5-13-2008 @ 1:42PM
Alex said...
I picked up three gallons of strawberries at the farmers' market a couple weeks ago and made jam. Sooooo good. I took a jar of jam and a loaf of homemade bread to work - they barely lasted until lunch time. I'm hoarding the rest of my jam for myself!
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5-13-2008 @ 1:47PM
Marisa McClellan said...
jrsygir1, that sounds absolutely delicious!
Alex, I've been thinking that I want to make jam this summer. I'm headed out to Lancaster County this weekend and was hoping to pick up enough berries for jam while I'm out there.
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5-13-2008 @ 1:50PM
Jacob Grier said...
Just yesterday I wrote up a delicious cocktail that features strawberries, basil, balsamic syrup, and cachaca. Turned out great!
http://www.jacobgrier.com/blog/archives/1106.html
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5-13-2008 @ 2:11PM
Patrick R said...
I like to keep 'em simple... In a crepe, in a salad, in a smoothie, on a waffle, or just by themselves.
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5-13-2008 @ 3:04PM
Alex said...
Marisa,
If you've never made jam before, I have one bit of advice. Buy twice as much of everything as you think you need. There is always a lid or two that doesn't seal and has to be replaces, extra juicy berries that need extra pectin, lemons that don't give as much juice as you expected, etc.
You can make jam in small batches, (in fact many small batches will turn out much better than one large batch), so even if you can only find a few quarts, you can still make jam.
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5-13-2008 @ 4:22PM
Red Icculus said...
Kroger/Owens is having an entire sale devoted to strawberries. The only thing is that the produce manager didn't know where the strawberries were coming from. I would totally indulge if they were produced locally.
http://red-icculus.com
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