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Strawberries

Source of Recipe

Internet

BUYING STRAWBERRIES:

Naturally the best strawberries are the ones you pick yourself from your local strawberry fields. In the stores, always choose locally grown strawberries during the harvesting season (they are sweeter and juicier than those that are bred for shipment).

Remember, your local strawberry season only lasts 3 to 4 weeks.

When purchasing berries from the grocery store, shop with your nose. Always pick the plumpest and most fragrant berries. They should be firm, bright, and fresh looking with no mold or bruises, and fresh green caps. The caps should be bright green, fresh looking and fully attached. Berries should be dry and clean; usually medium to small berries have better eating quality than large ones
Strawberries do not ripen after they have been harvested, so choose strawberries that have been picked fully ripened.

Select berries that are in dry; unstained containers (stained containers may indicate oversoft berries that are not freshly picked). Mold on berries spreads quickly. Never leave a moldy berry next to a good one.
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STORING AND PREPARING STRAWBERRIES:

• Before using or storing, sort through the strawberries and separate the soft ones from the firm, fully ripe berries. Discard any mushy or spoiled berries.

• Store them in a colander in the refrigerator. This allows the cold air to circulate around them. Do not cover them.

• Remove caps from strawberries only after washing. Prepare strawberries for serving by rinsing with caps still attached under a gentle spray of cool water; pat dry with a paper towel. (Don't remove the caps before washing; the caps keep the water from breaking down the texture and flavor inside the berries.). Wash the berries just before you plan to use them. Use as soon as possible; strawberries ripen no further once picked.

• To keep strawberries from absorbing large quantities of water when washing them, place in a salad spinner to remove excess water.
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STRAWBERRY NUTRITION

Strawberries are not only good to eat, they are also "good for us." They are an especially tasty source of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). In fact, one cup of fresh strawberries provides about 88 milligrams of ascorbic acid, which more than meets the Recommended Daily Dietary allowance of 45 milligrams for the average adult. Vitamin C is well retained when the strawberries are handled carefully. Capping, injuring, cutting, or juicing, however, will
reduce the vitamin content. Strawberries are low in calories: one cup of unsweetened strawberries has only 55 calories. So if you are on a reducing diet, use strawberries to add flavor, food value, and pleasure to meals. You can even eat some as a between-meals snack.
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LEGENDS AND LORE OF STRAWBERRIES

• In provincial France, strawberries were regarded as an aphrodisiac. Newlyweds were served always served a cold strawberry soup.

• The strawberry was a symbol for Venus, the Goddess of Love, because of its heart shapes and red color.

• Have you every eaten a double strawberry? Legend says that if you break the strawberry in half and share it with a member of the opposite sex, you will soon fall in love with each other.

• In parts of Bavaria, people still practice the annual rite each spring of tying small baskets of wild strawberries to the horns of their cattle as an offering to elves. They believe that the elves, who are passionately fond of strawberries, will help to produce healthy calves and abundance of milk in return.

• Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII had a strawberry shaped birthmark on her neck, which some claimed proved she was a witch.

• To symbolize perfection and righteousness, medieval stone masons carved strawberry designs on altars and around the tops of pillars in churches and cathedrals.

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Freezing Strawberries

Cooperative Extension Service, College of Agriculture
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

When you have more strawberries than you can eat or when strawberries can be obtained at a reasonable cost, freeze them to eat later. For freshly made strawberry jam at any time of the year, freeze berries and then make the jam at your convenience.

Strawberries are easy to freeze. You can use a dry-sugar or a syrup pack. The dry-sugar pack is especially easy and gives the best flavor and color for sliced or crushed berries. For whole frozen berries a syrup pack is recommended because it produces a plump, well-shaped berry after thawing. For special sugar-free diets, strawberries can be frozen unsweetened, but they will not be as high in quality as sugar- or syrup-packed berries.
Twelve pounds or 8 quarts of fresh strawberries will yield approximately 13 pints of frozen berries.

No matter which type of pack you choose to use, follow these general directions for preparing and packaging strawberries for freezing:

• Use only firm, fully ripe berries.

• To avoid bruising and soaking the berries, wash only a few at a time in cold water. colander or drain on absorbent paper or in a colander or sieve.

• Remove the hulls with the tip of a floating blade peeler.

• Chill the fruit in ice water to lower its temperature for fast freezing.

When packaging for freezing:

• Do not fill containers completely; allow a head space of ½" for pints, 1/4" for 11/2 pints, and I" for quarts.

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) may be purchased in crystalline or tablet form or as a commercial ascorbic acid mixture to help prevent darkening of foods. If using the crystalline form, dissolve ½ teaspoon of ascorbic acid in each pint of water, berry I . nice, or crushed berries. For a dry-sugar pack, mix the ascorbic acid with the sugar. If using tablets, use 1,500 milligrams per pint; crush the tablets so that they will dissolve more readily. When using a commercial mixture, follow the manufacturer's directions.

• Seal containers and label with the name of the product and the date frozen.

• Freeze promptly, then store at 0 degree F or below.
Dry-Sugar Pack

• Halve, quarter, or slice clean berries into a bowl or shallow pan. If desired, berries may be crushed rather than sliced.

• Sprinkle sugar over berries, using 1/3 to 3/4 cup sugar for each quart of fruit.

• Gently turn berries over and over until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved.

• Package and freeze.

Syrup Pack

Make a syrup using 11/4 cups water to each cup sugar. Dissolve the sugar in either cold or hot water; if hot water is used, be sure to chill the syrup before using. Use about ½ to 1/3 cup of syrup for each pint container. Place whole or sliced berries in containers and cover with cold syrup. Package and freeze.

Unsweetened Pack

• Pack whole, sliced, or crushed berries in containers.

• Cover whole or sliced berries with water or berry juice. For better color retention, add ascorbic acid to the water, berry juice, or crushed berries. Cover crushed berries with their own juice. Package and freeze as discussed earlier.