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Featured Ingredient - Strawberries
Rate it! Votes (6) | Comments (0) By Cheri Sicard Photos: Mitch Mandell Posted July 29th, 2007 FabulousFoods.com Recommends: Ripe for Dessert: 100 Outstanding Desserts with Fruit--Inside, Outside, Alongside, by David Lebovitz, (2003, William Morrow Cookbooks)	Ripe for Dessert: 100 Outstanding Desserts with Fruit--Inside, Outside, Alongside

Strawberries! Nearly everyone loves this popular fruit. Not only that, strawberries are so good for you, it's O.K. to indulge. Eight medium strawberries contain 140% of the US recommended daily allowance for vitamin C, as well as being a great source of folic acid, potassium and fiber. Another added bonus? They're low in calories!

Some of the recipes in this article were finalists in the California Strawberry Festival's 1997 Berry Off cooking contest. We also have the grand prize winning recipe, Strawberry Truffles. The festival is held each May in Oxnard California and is a celebration of all things strawberry. There's food, music, interesting shopping, children's events and much more. For additional information, visit the California Strawberry Festival website.

Strawberry Tips

• When buying, look for plump, bright red, fully ripe berries. The top leaves should be attached, green and fresh looking. The size of the strawberry is not important. All strawberries, large and small, have the potential to be equally sweet and juicy.
• Sort and remove any bruised or damaged berries as soon as possible, being in contact with spoiled fruit can cause good fruit to go bad quicker.
• Place the berries in cool, well ventilated containers (32 to 40°F / 0 to 5°C). The moisture content of fresh strawberries is high, so store uncovered or loosely covered.
• Hull strawberries and rinse gently right before serving. Careful storing and handling will help the berries maintain maximum flavor, colour and texture.
• To keep strawberries from absorbing large quantities of water, hull after washing. A salad spinner works well for removing excess water from berries.
• Use individual frozen strawberries as cubes in a fancy drink or cocktail.

Strawberry Measurement Equivalents

• 1 basket = 1 pint strawberries
• 1 pint = 3 1/4 cups whole berries
• 1 pint = 2 1/4 cups sliced berries
• 1 pint = 1 2/3 cups pureed berries
• 1 pint = about 12 very large stemmed berries to about 36 smaller berries
• 20 ounces frozen berries = about 4 cups whole berries

Freezing Strawberries
For long term storage, individual quick freezing is recommended. This will minimize the "mushiness" associated with freezing the berries. Strawberries can safely be kept frozen for up to 1 year.

Place the berries on flat trays in a single layer, well spaced out, and put into the coldest part of the freezer (the colder the better). Choose firm, ripe berries; wash in ice water before hulling. Carefully drain well on several layers of paper towels first. After freezing, store in heavy freezer bags, tightly sealed, sucking as much air as possible out of the bag to minimize freezer burn. Seal, label and date.

Strawberry Recipes
See the related recipes section below for lots of fabulous strawberry recipes and get cooking!

Related Recipes Alice Medrich's Chocolate Blinis with Berry Caviar Batter Pudding With Strawberry Sauce -- Historical Recipe) Blue Smoke Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Calypso Strawberry Salad Chocolate Cream Puffs With Strawberry Truffle Filling Cornmeal Crusted Chicken with 2 Strawberry Salsas Diabetic Friendly Strawberry Shortcake Ginger Rhubarb Conserve Grilled Fruit Kebabs Low Carb Scrumptious Strawberry Cheesecake Mollie Katzen's Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Petrossian's Vodka Berry Sorbet Pork Loin With Strawberry-Morel Stuffing Quick and Easy Chilled Fruit Soup Rhubarb Strawberry Cobbler South Beach Diet Chocolate Covered Strawberries Strawberry Rhubarb Compote Strawberry Spring Roll Salad Wild Strawberry Salad With Parmesan Crisps and Blueberry Dressing Related Features Artichokes, Asparagus and Strawberries -- Recipes for Spring

 

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