When I buy the first real, local summer strawberries of the season I remember what lawyer/writer William Allen Butler once said:
"Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did."
I agree. Sometime in the middle of June I know these gems are coming to a market near me. I sniff them out. It’s easy, because they smell like cotton candy and I need some, immediately.
I bought two quarts of strawberries on Friday and ate an entire quart — and then some — all by myself, by Sunday. It’s like eating popcorn. Or potato chips. I can’t just have one.
Every year, when I finish feasting on the first strawberries of the season, I wonder why I buy the year ‘round kind sold in the supermarkets in plastic containers. Those gigantic things that look swell but that taste like nothing. They certainly don’t don’t taste like strawberries. And they’re as dry as a cardboard box to boot.
I vow never to let these red wonders get me again. They’re fake. They’re sold to fool us into thinking that this is what strawberries are.
Don’t be fooled, ever again. Save yourselves for the real stuff. Find a farmer’s market or store that sells strawberries that haven’t been grown for long-distance travel. Honestly, there’s a reason why food experts suggest eating local produce. It tastes the way nature intended it to taste.
By the way, you don’t have to do anything to strawberries (other than rinse them). They are dessert unto themselves. There’s no need for cobblers or tarts or anything.
No need for sugar either. Real strawberries are naturally sweet. Like cotton candy.
If you want something fancier, maybe a bit of whipped cream.
Real whipped cream, not too sweet. Like my mother use to make:
Real Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Place a large mixing bowl and mixer beaters in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to chill them. Pour the cream into the cold bowl and mix, starting at slow speed with an electric mixer then gradually increasing the speed to high, for a minute or so until the cream thickens. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and continue to beat, starting at slow and continuing to high speed, until the mixture is thick. Makes about 2 cups