At Long Last: Strawberry Season!

I don’t know how many of you were lucky enough to grow up with a wild strawberry patch in the backyard, but let me tell you: that patch was one of my favorite things about summer. The patch was quite small, and the strawberries even smaller—none of your massive and massively-watery grocery specimens here. Each tiny strawberry packed a powerful wallop of sweet tartness, and I just couldn’t get enough (literally).

I’m not sure where to find wild strawberries now that I’m in the city, but that’s not going to stop me from gorging myself on these strawberry recipes:

Wild Strawberry Jam

nami-nami and I are on the same page when it comes to wild strawberries. She writes that “Wild strawberries are high in carbohydrates and contain fibre, minerals (iron, magnesium, calcium, among other things) and vitamins (B, C, E vitamins, pholic acid and carotene).” Like you needed another reason to get on board with this fruit! In this recipe for jam, you can enjoy the vivid taste of wild strawberries year-round, but nami-nami warns, “Don’t try to make a traditional boiled jam with wild strawberries. The tiny seeds outside the berry turn any cooked jam bitter, and basically spoil it. Therefore wild strawberries are preserved in uncooked, ‘raw’ jam.” Yes, ma’am.

Balsamic Strawberries and Basil

What is up with mixing strawberries with balsamic vinegar and basil? I have seen this combo everywhere. There must be something to it, although the idea of strawberries and vinegar kind of makes my stomach turn. Maybe I’ll give this stunning-looking recipe from Baking Delights a try, although I’m apt to skip the fancy presentation and just eat the whole damn thing myself.

Strawberry Margarita Pie

Is it weird to weep at a picture of a dessert? This take on a frozen cream pie, from Cookie baker lynn, looks astonishingly delicious. I have a birthday coming up next month, and something tells me I may have found my birthday cake.

Lemon Curd Tart with Strawberries

Beyond Ramen gets all mathematical on me by writing, “If pastry + lemon curd = win, pastry + lemon curd + fresh strawberries must give you at least (win)^2.” Well. The numbers speak for themselves. I’ve never made curd before, but now I am excited to try!

Now for our contribution to the fray…I’m going to head straight to our book room and see what kind of strawberry recipes are hidden in the indices of our cookbooks. Stay tuned for the result!