Read Your Passion
Strawberries
by Chef Diane Bukatman
When you think of graduation, do you think of it as the end of something, or as the beginning of something else? Is it the graduation from where you’ve been, or the commencement of a new stage in your life? I’ve always thought the choice of the two words intriguing. “Graduation” has always sounded so final, like the completion of something without necessarily knowing where we were off to next. But “commencement” has brought the ring of hope and promise and new beginnings around every corner.
Maybe I’ve always made the connection between commencement ceremonies and the commencement of summer. That time of year when fruit trees are teasing us with their lush bounty (promise of things to come?) and glorious scents that this time of year has always seemed so promising to me. As soon as the first graduation parties get under way, I’m off to find some pick-your-own strawberry farms.
Who can resist? Walking through fields of row upon row of fragrant, glistening berries I feel like a kid in a candy store. The assurance that I can eat as many berries as I’d like while I’m picking always seems too good to be true. Just seeing all those perfect plants with their perfect largesse starts my mind swimming. I start out popping every berry I yank off their anchors into my mouth, while not a single berry makes it to my sack. Meanwhile, the food computer in my mind is churning out ideas for my juicy booty… Strawberry jam? Strawberry pie? Strawberry crepes? All the while knowing that to cook these little gems would be a sin.
Strawberries are grown in every State in the country, and are at their peak in early May to early June. A member of the rose family, strawberries are the only fruit with their seed – of which an average berry has about 200– on the outside of the fruit! And, unlike most other fruits, the best way to pick a juicy, sweet berry is with your eyes closed. No, really! It isn’t the big, bright red berries you necessarily want, but the berries whose fragrance you can pick up before you even get to them. Since strawberries will continue to redden once they’re picked, color isn’t the best indicator of a luscious berry. But, once picked the sugar in the fruit stops developing, so you can wind up with a beautiful berry, with flat dull flavor. Trust your nose on this one.
As for me, I’m probably going to wind up sticking to strawberries in their purest sense, piled high with a mound of whipped cream and some steaming hot buttery shortcakes!
To Read another Article, Click Here
by Chef Diane Bukatman
When you think of graduation, do you think of it as the end of something, or as the beginning of something else? Is it the graduation from where you’ve been, or the commencement of a new stage in your life? I’ve always thought the choice of the two words intriguing. “Graduation” has always sounded so final, like the completion of something without necessarily knowing where we were off to next. But “commencement” has brought the ring of hope and promise and new beginnings around every corner.
Maybe I’ve always made the connection between commencement ceremonies and the commencement of summer. That time of year when fruit trees are teasing us with their lush bounty (promise of things to come?) and glorious scents that this time of year has always seemed so promising to me. As soon as the first graduation parties get under way, I’m off to find some pick-your-own strawberry farms.
Who can resist? Walking through fields of row upon row of fragrant, glistening berries I feel like a kid in a candy store. The assurance that I can eat as many berries as I’d like while I’m picking always seems too good to be true. Just seeing all those perfect plants with their perfect largesse starts my mind swimming. I start out popping every berry I yank off their anchors into my mouth, while not a single berry makes it to my sack. Meanwhile, the food computer in my mind is churning out ideas for my juicy booty… Strawberry jam? Strawberry pie? Strawberry crepes? All the while knowing that to cook these little gems would be a sin.
Strawberries are grown in every State in the country, and are at their peak in early May to early June. A member of the rose family, strawberries are the only fruit with their seed – of which an average berry has about 200– on the outside of the fruit! And, unlike most other fruits, the best way to pick a juicy, sweet berry is with your eyes closed. No, really! It isn’t the big, bright red berries you necessarily want, but the berries whose fragrance you can pick up before you even get to them. Since strawberries will continue to redden once they’re picked, color isn’t the best indicator of a luscious berry. But, once picked the sugar in the fruit stops developing, so you can wind up with a beautiful berry, with flat dull flavor. Trust your nose on this one.
As for me, I’m probably going to wind up sticking to strawberries in their purest sense, piled high with a mound of whipped cream and some steaming hot buttery shortcakes!
To Read another Article, Click Here
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