Highlights: Strawberries

Writing the highlights post is a funny thing.  Sometimes I have no idea what to use as a topic, sometimes it’s incredibly clear.  This week’s subject came out of last week’s; as I gathered ice cream and popsicle recipes I noticed that many of them featured strawberries.  So many that I decided to save them for a separate post.  Since then it’s seemed like my Reader has been full of strawberry recipes.

This week at our CSA the strawberry patch was open for pick your own and Brian and I gathered 2 pints to take home.  Tonight for dinner we enjoyed blueberry pancakes topped with strawberries and whipped cream.  So good.  I think I may need to seek out more berries before the season is over.

Our farm isn’t the only place where berries are ripe.  Public Radio Kitchen reports that strawberries have arrived in Massachusetts about 2 weeks earlier than usual.  The NY Times also has a piece on New York pick-your-own farms and early berries.

One of the most disappointing things about picking fruit is having it go bad before you get to eat it; we had that issue with some of the berries above.  The Kitchn suggests a washing method that I haven’t tried yet, but I think I’ll test on our next batch of fruit.

On to the recipes (in the event you can resist eating all of your strawberries plain):

• The Wannabe Chef’s Chocolate Covered Strawberries
• Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream on Tasty Kitchen
• Strawberry and Almond Smoothie on the NY Times
• Red, White, and Blue Fruit Cups (with coconut whipped cream!) on Offbeat Home
• Fresh Strawberries and Cream Cake on Healthy Delicious
• Strawberry Frozen Yogurt on Serious Eats
• Joy the Baker’s Strawberry Ice
• Strawberry Yogurt Popsicles on Art and Lemons
• Summer Strawberry Cider on Little Bitty Bakes
• Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk Cake on Joy the Baker
• Smitten Kitchen’s Strawberries and Cream Biscuits
• Perfect Strawberry Jam on Serious Eats

If none of those ideas interest you, the Kitchn has a round up of 20 strawberry recipes including salads, margaritas, pop-tarts and sorbet.

Serious Eats recently added a weekly “Share Your Sweets” feature.  This week’s  topic is Strawberry Sweets and you have until Tuesday to submit yours.  I’m looking forward to seeing what photos and links are included in the final post.