There’s nothing like fresh strawberries in season. I took a trip to the local farmers market and sure enough, there were strawberries on the first table. And Mennonite girls behind the table collecting money.
Perfect, that’s just what I’m looking for. But hmmm, that’s odd … they’re in plastic boxes. I wouldn’t expect Mennonites to be using plastic boxes.
Looking closer, it turns out they were selling California strawberries … and Canadian tomatoes … and Mexican plums. It looks like even at the farmers market you need to check your labels.
So what’s the difference between California strawberries trucked all the way to Northeast Ohio, and the ones grown right here?
To start with, the box on the left was originally $5 marked down to $3. The box on the right was half the size, and $5.
Second, the California berries were generally larger, but the local ones were generally darker red.
That’s it for differences you can see on the table. Now let’s prep some. First tear the leaves off the top.
There’s still a piece of stem you need to cut out. You can do this with a paring knife, but there’s a special tool for it.
Normally I don’t like single-use kitchen gadgets, but this one is so much faster it’s worth the minimal space it takes up. So how much faster is it?
Cut them in half and you’ll see the next difference. The California berries are hollow inside, the local ones are more solid all the way through.
Cut all the berries into bite-sized pieces.
Add some fresh, sweetened whipped cream.
And that’s it.
UPDATE: Thanks to Ryan for pointing out, somehow I forgot to mention — yes, the local berries were more flavorful. If you weren’t comparing them back-to-back you would probably never notice the difference. I suspect it will be the same with most local foods; the long-distance version will taste okay, until you compare it to local.
If you like food at all — and since you’re reading this I assume you do — you’ve got to check out this cartoon: Three Panel Soul
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12 Comments
I don’t bother with a knife or a special tool for hulling strawberries–I use my finger nail. Quicker, but only an option if you have long enough finger nails and don’t mind mauling your strawberries by hand. You do know, of course, that you don’t even need to whip the cream for strawberries. Just cut the strawberries up, add as much sugar as you like, and pour over unwhipped heavy cream. Mmmmm.
We don’t grow strawberries, but I’ll be going to our local U-pick this week or next week and coming back with an outrageous quantity of berries. I can’t wait.
I like how you dissected each berry to get to the nitty gritty of the berry business. I feel the same way about single-use kitchen gadgets. I like going in William-Sonoma and laughing on the inside about the crazy gadgets out there. Example: to juice lemons and limes, I use a pair of tongs.
That cartoon was pretty fun. I actually found a recipe online for bacon ice cream, and it actually looked like it just might taste good! I bet if you google it, you could find the recipe and give it a try (I’m too scared to try it myself).
Krisitin, I didn’t take pictures of it, but that’s what I was doing to the side while slicing the berries.
Nikki, what single-use tools do you use? I’m always surprised to see the things that different people won’t do without.
Stephanie, I’ve been trying to do more experiments. On the one hand, I don’t want to “waste” good ingredients on something that may not work out. But on the other hand, lots of great recipes probably started as happy accidents. I’ll be posting my latest experiment shortly. And I just may go for the bacon ice cream. Of course I’ll be sure to post the results, positive or negative.
Oh, and Kristin? Fingernail? EWWW! I assume you do that back in the kitchen so people don’t see it? Let me know if any of your relatives read this and decide not to eat your next dessert.
Come on, tell us, which strawberry tasted better? The local one or the California one?
The ones we get from the supermarket here in the UK are generally large and flavourless, and look like the Cali ones you have. The ones from markets or grown locally tend to be better, smaller, juicier and sweeter. Out of season you get strawberries too, but they are terrible.
I don’t core my strawberries ever. What a strange thing to do!
Thanks for the reminder, I just updated after the last picture.
So, you don’t cut the stem out of yours? Or do you mean the hollowed-out center in the Cali berry? Because that’s how they look as soon as you cut them open. They really are hollow inside.
We don’t worry so much about how the food is prepared, so long as it is. Trust me, you could not tell the difference between the strawberries that I hulled with my thumbnail and the ones hulled with a knife when they’re plopped on top of shortcake with whipped cream. Nor would you care, I suspect. I have no patience with prissy cooks. If it’s not actively dirty and likely to result in salmonella poisoning, it’s all good.
G-ma never needed the cream. I, on the other hand, like them with Crema Fresca–Mexican cream, and Splenda or sugar.
Is Crema Fresca a different kind of cream, or is it something made from “regular” cream?
A month later…she responds!
I’ll use a peeler, bottle opener/corkscrew (does that count?), silicone pastry brush, pastry scraper, ice cream scoop, and melon baller; I have a food mill, but I use my mesh strainer most time for everything that the mill can do. There are some other gadgets around the kitchen, but I don’t use them most times because I hate to wash dishes and it’s easier to use something else.
I don’t think a peeler counts. You use it on all kinds of vegetables. The strawberry corer is just for strawberries. The silicone brush I use for barbecue sauce, too. You’re right on the ice cream scoop and corkscrew, I don’t know of anything else that can replace those.
You’re also right about the cleaning. That’s a big reason for not pulling out more stuff.