How strawberry are you?

Bon Appetit,
Katleen

 

Strawberry Part II

Above all my excitement, I totally forgot the actual article I wanted to use for strawberries. Then now, you receive some more know-how.

Delicious and healthy

• The berries don’t mellow after being picked – only pick the mellow ones
• Big fruit = Lot’s of flavor? Mistaken! Small berries are usually more intensive
• Wash strawberries right before you eat them, otherwise they would rot
• They consist to 90% of water, 100g have 37 calories and they have more vitamin C than a lemon

Species of Strawberries

1. Senga Sengana Dark red & sweet. Taste fresh, also deep frozen.
2. Cosima Cone shaped, with mild flavor. Late crop
3. Julietta Middle red, big fruits. Perfect for juice and jelly.
4. Woodland strawberry Small, but delicious.

So how far are you into the strawberry season?? Did you already inspire somebody with your newest strawberry creation?
I will bake this weekend a strawberry cake with a pudding filling inside. And surly I let you know how it catches on.

Bon Appetit,
Katleen

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All facts and pictures are taken from: “Maxi” magazine

 

It’s Strawberry time!

Since weeks I am yawning after strawberries. There are already everywhere some, you would say. But there are not German. I want the German ones. Not the fruits which are shipped around the globe to give me a reddish looking something without any taste. No, thanks. Then I wait. And today at the supermarket, the responsible fruit employee told us that TOMORROW German strawberries will be delivered for the supermarket. That means that finally my favorite season begins, the one of reddish fruits.

But what’s all about the hype ?

First look at  Germany’s own crop of strawberries and of the imported number of strawberries.

market supply of strawberries in Germany	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
Crop in tons	110.000	105.000	95.000	119.000	146.00	169.000	154.000
Imports in tons	149.000	118.000	118.000	118.000	104.000	97.000	81.000

As you can see, German’s crop of strawberries is increasing whereas the imports are decreasing. So why not trust and wait for our own regional products. Anyway it is better for our economic and for the fruits as well. Actually there is only a time period of 3 days between the crop and the actual sale (Fruitlife 2002). So I don’t think that the Spanish strawberries like we see them at the grocery store are just picked the day before I ate them. Of course not. They are treated with chemical means to extend the freshness up to ten days.

Let’s get to the real interesting things:  How to eat them??

You can find hundreds of delicious recipes out there at the web or at cooking books. My general suggestions are to keep it plain. Just wash them gently and add some sugar to receive some more juice and an extensive taste.Then eat them with

1. milk
2. vanilla sauce
3. pudding
4. whipped cream
5. curd cheese

These are the easiest, fastest and freshest types you can prepare.

But of course I also have some good recipes for strawberry cakes. I just found them at another blog page, called  get off your butt and bake.

1. a strawberry cream pie
2. chocolate strawberry shortcakes
3. creamy no bake strawberry cheesecakes
4. chocolate strawberry streuselbars

Hm mm, can’t wait to try one of these. I still found some good pages in German about this red fruit and of course more recipes to reproduce.

• erdbeeren.de
• beerenstark.de
• marions-kochbuch.de
• fruitlife.de

Therefore enjoy the strawberry season before all fruits are eaten!

Bon Appetit,
Katleen