Strawberries for Every Meal

Strawberry season is officially upon us again.

Two years ago I planted 40 strawberry plants in my perennial garden and they multiplied and multiplied. I probably have 1000 of them now. They are in the whole middle of my berry garden as well as lining the edges of most of my flower beds. I figured eventually they would act like a living mulch and fill in around my flowers.

The first to ripen were those around the edges, where they got more sunlight. I began eating them a few at a time. As I strolled by a bed and noticed a bright red one, I’d pop it in my mouth.

Things are really going strong now though. I’m bringing them in by the basin-load. I collected this yesterday from the perennial garden:

I’d guess there were 15 pounds of berries in that basin and that was the second load this week!

So, needless to say, I’ve been eating strawberries for almost every meal.

My favorite recipe so far is strawberry salsa. I had a whole soup bowl of it with tortilla chips for lunch one day.

Strawberry Salsa

2-3 cups strawberries, cleaned and sliced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 small jalapeño, minced (I used a heaping tablespoon of candied jalapeños from last year’s garden)
Handful of cilantro, chopped
Additional chopped herbs to taste (some of my favorites are Apple mint and garlic chives)
Salt and pepper to taste
Lime juice to taste

Stir it all up and enjoy with some nice salty tortilla chips!

I also found a new recipe to try for Josh who pretty much only eats strawberry jam. It’s called Strawberry Honey Butter, sort of a strawberry version of apple butter. It appealed to me because it was much lower sugar than most jam recipes and I have a hard time getting strawberry jam to set well. The first batch turned out great so I think I’ll make some more to get him through the year.

Check out how lovely and rich the strawberries were when puréed. You can’t beat freshly picked strawberries for juiciness, color and sweetness!