strawberries

I associate strawberries with spring, particularly with Mother's Day. Maybe it's my childhood. When I was growing up, the first strawberries of the season in Alaska seemed to come out in May. I don't remember strawberries any other time of year, even though I know they can be grown in other places all year round. Either they didn't truck well to Alaska or they cost too much for our family to purchase. Whatever the cause, I still associate strawberries with spring. So, looking forward to spring as I am, I couldn't resist when I saw boxes of strawberries at the grocery store. I've been eating them like my grandchildren do, like apples. They are so big they take about 6 bites to eat! And when I stand at the kitchen sink and look out at the yard still in the between-winter-and-spring stage, I can close my eyes, take a bite, and taste spring.

It's a treat to have a bowl of sliced strawberries, sprinkled with a little sugar. I like strawberries mixed in things, too, like salads (yummy spinach salad with strawberries). I especially like strawberry shortcake (and even more when I can drizzle chocolate syrup over it all). But I like strawberries in pies and other desserts. In our smoothies, I leave the green part on, something I don't eat when I eat them whole. There are just so many ways to enjoy them! My husband used to play this game with our children: if you were on a desert island and could only have one vegetable, one fruit, one meat--what would they be? Well, strawberries would have to be one of the top two (apples might be tied, not because I like them better but because they're so versatile).

I read a little about strawberries.  Probably the strawberries we eat aren't like the first ones because those were wild and "woodland" strawberries, while we eat "garden" strawberries today. The French first cultivated them, but even the Romans wrote about them. They symbolize "perfect righteousness," and the whole plant (according to wikipedia) has been used to treat depression. In other places, I learned that strawberries are excellent anti-oxidants and can prevent muscle fatigue and cause exercisers to burn 100 more calories than people who didn't eat strawberries.

Lots of fun strawberry facts on this site: http://www.londonstrawberryfestival.com/facts.htm