Leave the Strawberries Alone!

For The Carolina Gateway (May 16, 2007)

The crop of strawberries is so outrageously sweet and succulent this year it’s almost a travesty to cook them. Just put them in a bowl on your counter and the family will gobble them up faster than you can say “save some for me!” I put mine in the handle basket on the counter and warned my guys that there would be trouble if they ate so many that I wouldn’t have enough to make the two desserts that I needed for the newspaper. 12-year old Taylor solved the problem by implementing a “strawberry debit sheet.” He listed all our names and instructed each of us to make a hash mark for each berry we consumed. Dire warnings were posted (on my behalf by Taylor) on the bottom of the sheet. Sometime later, when older son Nate noted that Taylor has 3 hash marks, he accused him of eating 111 berries!

If you do feel compelled to do something fancy with strawberries, try to cook them as little as possible and be sure to go easy on the added sugar. The berries are so sweet this year that you can easily lose the fruity goodness by adding too much sweetener. For your ice cream and shortcake toppings, try just mashing them a little with a fork and letting them sit for a few minutes. I think you’ll find they don’t need any sugar at all.

It’s natural to want to preserve the bounty for later. The easiest and freshest way is to simply freeze the berries in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Once they are frozen through, drop them into zip-top bags and return them to the freezer for later use. They will keep this way for up to a year. Once they thaw they will be mushy, but the flavor will be just as fresh. Thawed frozen berries are perfect for muffins, cakes and syrups.

Many home cooks like to make strawberry preserves. If you aren’t up to the canning process, you can make a simple frozen jam. Mix together 2 cups of crushed strawberries (about a quart of strawberries will crush to 2 cups) and sugar to taste (up to 3/4 cup). Set aside. Place 4 cups of water, and a box of Sure Gel® in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and let it boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the water mixture to the berry mixture and stir about 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into sterile freezer containers. Cover tightly and let sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then freeze. Thawed, the preserves will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 weeks.

But do yourself a favor—don’t cancel out the health benefits of strawberries (1 cup will give you 50% of your daily requirement of vitamin C and 15% of your needed fiber) by dumping a lot of sugar on them. Just clean them and eat them raw and fresh.

Gotta go. Everyone else is up over a dozen berries a piece. I’m way behind and one thing I’ve learned about goodies in this family: you snooze, you lose!