“Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.” William Butler, 16th century author

Tips for Use and Storage of Strawberries

Tips for Eating Strawberries

I have seen sun dappled strawberries grilled, roasted, marinated, macerated, pureed, ‘salsa-fied’, baked in a pie, put up in a jam, frozen in an ice cream…I could extrapolate cooking methodology ad nauseam…But what is more sublime than a perfectly ripe strawberry, plucked from the vine and popped in the mouth? The procrastination of filling ones basket a blissful ignorance…the smell of the berry in your mouth as you bite down on it for the first time. The taste. Bliss.

To my mind, great cooking is about honesty, authenticity and sourcing the best ingredients. The cook’s job is to manipulate the ingredient in the most unobtrusive way possible, improving it, highlighting the best of its characteristics, minimizing any culinary deficiencies. Strawberries afford us the best of these possibilities. Strawberries allow us to get out of their way. Very few of us will ever pull a 30 pound striped bass out of the surf on a rod and reel, throwing it on a fire roaring in the lee of a sand dune. Fewer still will spend dawn’s early hours in the hills of Alba, rooting out October’s first truffle. But all of us can grow a strawberry, or drive a short distance and pick them, or pull over to the side of a country road and buy a pint from a freckled young boy minding the family farm stand.

The strawberry, a vinous member of the rose family, was a primary food source for our hunting and gathering ancestors. Strawberries have been gathered in the wild in the Americas and Eurasia for tens of thousands of years. Eventually we learned to dry them, store them and preserve them. Thousands of years ago in America, early indigenous peoples cultivated them, resulting in a large plump species native to our hemisphere. In Europe, the Romans were the first to farm their berries, using them to cure a variety of gastric problems. Strawberries were commonly used as a diuretic. European strawberries were smaller and more intense in flavor, commonly referred to today as frais de bois. In the 15th century Europeans began cultivating these species in earnest, before that it was unnecessary, berries were plentiful in the wild. Once cultivated, straw was used to keep the beds elevated and free of weeds…the modern berry had a catchy new moniker. Eventually a young French engineer named Frezier was sent to Chile to review Spanish military installations. There he encountered a large, plump, fragrant, red strawberry which he brought back to France. In 1821, with the Frezier strain as a starting point, an English market gardener named Michael Keens produced a seedling remarkable for size and flavor. The fragaria ananassa was born. This garden variety berry is the most common one grown here in the United States and abroad. It is a hybrid between the Chilean variety and the wild North American species. All modern varieties are derived from it.

From a health and wellness standpoint, strawberries are very good for you. Your body does not make vitamin C, B vitamins or many others. You need to take in, I’m talkin’ eating here, your daily requirements. Vitamins like C and B are water soluble and are not stored day to day as vitamins A and E are. You need C and B every day for optimum health. Vitamin C is also a member of a group of nutrients called antioxidants. These nutrients are considered cancer fighters and each day brings us a greater understanding of how important it is to have an adequate supply of these nutrients. Additionally, strawberries contain more vitamin C than an orange has…and plenty of folic acid and beta-carotene.

I buy fresh fruit from local farmers whenever possible. Freshly picked farm produce has a greater chance of containing more vitamins and nutrients because of better soil content, sunlight exposure and moisture availability than their supermarket counterparts. More importantly, the most important factor in fruit or vegetable maturity (and therefore the healthful benefits associated with them) is maturity at harvest. Major chemical changes take place as plants mature, yield fruit, ripen and decline. For this reason it is best to consume fruits as close to harvest time as possible. What could taste better or be better for you than a freshly picked strawberry

An Oddity…
An unusual feature of the strawberry is the structure. Technically it is a ‘false’ fruit. The seeds, unlike those of any other fruit, are on the outside. These are the true fruits of the plant. The fleshy berry to which they are attached is an enlarged receptacle corresponding to the white cone left behind on the plant when picking a raspberry. Both fruits belong to the same branch of the rose family and have the same fundamental form. The berry we eat is simply a water and nutrition source for the seeds.

Use and Storage
Pick firm, plump, red berries, with full green leaves and caps intact.

Remember that cold deadens the flavors and texture of most soft fruits. Leave the berries at room temperature for as long as is feasible without courting spoilage.

Wash only right before using.

IF you must refrigerate, store for 2-3 days on a paper towel in a moisture proof container.

Don’t freeze whole berries, they disintegrate when thawed.

Like vegetables, fruits get softer and juicier when cooked, but there are problems with that as well. To hold color in cooked berries, be sure to add foods rich in acid like rhubarb to hold the pigments of the berries.

Only sprinkle sugar on your fruit right before eating or cooking. Sugar is an acid that draws water out of fruits. Exceptions are jam or ice cream making. There, you rely on this physical law to either make a syrup when putting up preserves, or preventing little ice cubes from forming in your ice cream by wicking away moisture well before hand.

Eating
Try these wonderful tips…

Butter and sugar fresh breadcrumbs and liberally sprinkle over berries laid into a gratin dish, bake for 12-14 minutes at 450 degrees.

Toss with a sweet vinegar, cucumbers, red onion, feta, extra virgin olive oil and lots of basil for a marvelous salad.

Combine ½ cup balsamic vinegar and 6 ounces white chocolate in a double boiler over slow heat. Melt and combine. Pour fondue into warmed ramekins and dip strawberries.

Roast in a 400 degree oven until shrunken, caramelized, but still soft and use in your favorite muffin or scone recipes.

Toss berries in some lemon curd and mix with ½ inch squares of pound cake for a wonderful Berry-Lemon Fool.

Poach berries in a Muscat or Sauternes with star anise and ginger. Chill and serve.

Toss 1 quart cleaned berries in ½ cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon ground pepper and ¼ cup balsamic vinegar. Marinate for 2 hours refrigerated, tossing each half hour. Drain and serve.