Food ‘n Drink

Last year I had a strawberry pot. It produced perhaps 4 or 5 strawberries and that was all. However from that I managed to get around a dozen plants and set up my own little strawberry garden. This year we’ve had a really good crop of strawberries already and there’s still some more to ripen.

The photo is our second crop, slightly smaller than the first one which had most of the largest strawberries. This bowlful was savoured pretty soon after the photo was taken, no added sugar or cream, just fresh ripe strawberries. Gotta say, you can’t beat picking and eating your own grown food!

From what I’ve heard my Dad’s been picking boxes and boxes of strawberries out of his garden. My Mum’s been making jam, cheesecakes and everything with them as they don’t freeze too well. However you can get away with freezing them for use in several ways

• Allow to thaw and blend into natural yoghurt.
• Add to a banana and smooth for a healthy smoothy.
• Add to a cheesecake (as whole fruit) whilst still frozen so they retain their shape.
• Blend whilst only slightly thawed, add a little buttermilk or cream and make your own strawberry icecream.

The shops are full of English strawberries right now, which are simply the best in the world! However shop bought ones are not as great as ones from a fresh fruit stall in a market. You’ll find the latter cheaper and much juicier in taste. If you do get some from the shop and find them not so sweet then I suggest adding a little icing sugar over them. Extra thick cream goes well with them too