In his enduring classic on the joys of fishing, The Compleat Angler, Izaak Walton quotes noted physician Dr. Boteler (Butler) in what might well be reckoned the finest description of a food ever to appear in print. Stirred by the delights of wild strawberries he would have encountered in the course of a spring outing for trout, he shared Butler’s words: “Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless he never did.” Those words belong to the 17th century, but from the perspective of sheer culinary joy the passage of 400 years leaves that astute judgment as tried and true and the berry is tasty.
Wild strawberries have always been abundant in the southern Appalachians, and in an oft-mentioned passage in his Travels botanical explorer William Bartram described riding for two miles through “strawberry plains” in what was then Cherokee territory in North Carolina, with “the fragrant delicious fruit” leaving the legs of his horses stained a deep red. While they remain seasonally available for those who know where to find them and have the gumption to pick them, diminutive, taste-laden wild strawberries have long since yield pride of place (or at least frequency of usage) to their much larger domestic cousins. Yet as any strawberry aficionado will readily tell you, no matter how large and luscious they might be, the tame versions can’t quite match wild ones when it comes to taste.
That being duly recognized, domestic strawberries are available throughout the year on grocery store shelves, and each spring enterprising farmers sell fresh ones at roadside stands, through local markets, or in pick your own operations. Then too, we can enjoy strawberry jam and preserves, delicate strawberry liqueur, frozen berries, and other iterations in all seasons. From eye-catching, taste-tempting smoothies to scrumptious shortcakes, from trifles to jam-laden scones for afternoon tea, this ruby red wonder of the berry world brings a multitude to pleasing experiences. The recipes that follow are but a sampling of the wonders to be wrought with strawberries.
Strawberry/Spinach salad
Ingredients:
- 4 cups washed and torn spinach (other spring greens or chard can also be used)
- 1 cup hulled, washed, and sliced strawberries
- 1 kiwi, peeled and sliced (optional)
- 2/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Preparation:
Combine and set aside, then prepare a dressing using 2 tablespoons strawberry jam, 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, and 1/3 cup oil. Blend jam and vinegar then add oil gradually as you continue to process. Use this to dress the salad.
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients:
- 1 quart strawberries, sliced
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter cut into small pieces
- ½ cup milk
- 2 large eggs separated
- ¼ cup sugar
- Whipped cream or cool whip
Preparation:
Sprinkle sliced strawberries with 1/2 cup sugar, stir, cover and chill while preparing the cake. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and ¼ cup sugar. Cut butter into flour mixture until mixture is crumbly. Combine milk and separated egg yolks (reserve the egg whites); beat well. Add to flour mixture and mix with a fork until a soft dough forms. Divide dough in half. Press each half into greased 9-inch cake pans. The dough is sticky, and wetting your fingers makes it easier to pat down. Beat reserved egg whites until stiff. Half egg whites and gently spread over each dough layer. Sprinkle ¼ cups sugar atop the egg whites. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Allow cakes to cool on wire rack. While cake is baking, whip up some homemade whipping cream or get your store-bought whipped cream ready to use. If you’d like to serve the entire cake at a meal place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread half of the whipped cream over layer and arrange half of the sliced strawberries on top. Repeat with other layer. Alternately, whipped cream and strawberries may be added to each piece of cake as it is served in order to prevent sogginess. Adding beaten egg whites sprinkled with sugar to the top of the dough really gives the cake a nice crunch that contrasts with the soft berries and creamy topping.
Strawberry Punch Bowl Cake
Ingredients:
- 1 large angel food or sponge cake cut or broken into small cubes
- 1 box of powdered sugar
- 1 small can of evaporated milk
- 1 container of cool whip
- 1 container of sour cream (16-ounce)
- Quart of strawberries with sugar to taste
Preparation:
Slice or chop strawberries and mix with the sugar and then set aside. The longer you let your strawberries set the juicier they will become. Mix powdered sugar, evaporated milk, cool whip, and sour cream together until smooth. Layer cake, strawberries, and powdered sugar mixture in bowl ending with strawberries on top. After assembling cake, allow to sit in refrigerator for several hours or overnight to let the strawberries and cream mixture soak into the cake pieces. While strawberries are my favorite fruit to use in this recipe, peaches, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries are also very tasty.
NOTE: Adding whole strawberries as the top layer makes an especially pretty presentation.
TIP: If you have a clear punch bowl the cake looks really pretty in it, but if you don’t just use a large bowl—the cake will still be every bit as tasty.
Berry Larrup
As a boy I would occasionally hear some dish, usually a dessert, described as “larruping good.” That was high praise and perhaps explains the derivation of berry dishes known simply as larrup. Almost any tame or wild berry—not only strawberries but blackberries, dewberries, raspberries, elderberries, blueberries, or mulberries—can be used to make larrup. This basic recipe will work for any of them.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups (or more) of berries
- 1 cup sugar for every four cups of berries
- 1/3 cup flour for every four cups of berries (a bit of cornstarch can be used to thicken if necessary, although strawberries are normally “fleshy” enough the cornstarch will not be needed)
Preparation:
In a large saucepan bring the berries to a full boil and then add the sugar and flour. Stir steadily at a slow boil for five to seven minutes until a suitable thickness is reached. Serve hot as a topping for buttered biscuits, on pancakes, or as a topping for homemade vanilla ice cream.
Strawberry Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup self-rising flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 cup strawberries, capped and cleaned
TOPPING:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Preparation:
Using a spoon, mix all muffin ingredients except strawberries thoroughly. Then gently fold in the strawberries and fill sprayed muffin tin slots two-thirds full. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle atop muffins. You can also use an egg wash if you wish. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm with strawberry butter or strawberry cream cheese. This is a great way to “stretch” a small quantity of wild strawberries while enjoying their delectable flavor, or you can “live large” with domestic berries.
Strawberry Butter
Ingredients:
- 1 cup salted butter (at room temperature—if you are blessed enough to have that great rarity in today’s world, home-churned butter, so much the better)
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup strawberries, hulled, rinsed, and drained well
Preparation:
Cut butter into pieces and place in a blender. Pulse until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and berries; blend until spread is light and soft. Refrigerate in a covered container. Delicious on toast or biscuits and a mighty fine way to top off a bagel. This is a fine approach to making a relatively quantity of berries go a long way.
Strawberry Trifle
I first enjoyed trifle when in Scotland almost 50 years ago. Talk about an eye-opening dessert! The basics of a trifle are simple—it’s a mixture of berries, cake, whipped cream, pudding, and, if you wish (and I do), a bit of rum. Many recipes call for angel food cake, but for my part I think an old-fashioned pound cake made with plenty of eggs is far better. Fill a trifle bowl (or any large bowl—it’s just that the clear ones made for trifles have a world of visual appeal) with successive layers of crumbled cake, pudding, sliced berries, and whipped cream until you reach the top or run out of ingredients. Anoint with a bit of rum and finish with whipped cream at the top before decorating it with some whole berries. Trifles are wonderful any time after they are made, but letting them “set” in the refrigerator for twelve hours or so allows the berry juice to mingle with the other ingredients in wonderful fashion.
Ingredients:
- 1 container yellow cake mix, baked according to directions, or better still, make a pound cake
- 1 quart strawberries (cooked slightly with sugar and a splash or two of Grand Marnier if desired)
- 3 large vanilla pudding mixes (enough to require 6 cups of milk) mixed according to directions
- 2 large containers whipped topping (24 ounces total)
NOTE: This is a versatile recipe which also works well with other berries. If you particularly enjoy chocolate, substitute chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, and crushed toffee pieces. You’ll find that the mixed tastes of strawberries and chocolate blend quite nicely.