When buying strawberries, choose only those berries that are bright red and still have their leafy calyx firmly attached. Once the calyx is removed from the berry, ascorbic acid oxidase, an enzyme that destroys vitamin C, is released by the torn cells. Also, do not purchase packages where there are any signs of mold. If one berry is moldy, the mold spores will probably have contaminated the entire package.      Strawberries do not ripen any further once they have been picked. They should be purchased as soon as possible after they are picked, and used shortly after that. Warm temperatures can cause the strawberries to brown since the pigment that makes a strawberry red is heat sensitive.      Strawberries should be stored unwashed in a refrigerator. Only when it is time to use the berries should they be washed. To wash strawberries, place them in a bowl, fill it with cold water, swirl the berries gently with your hand, and drain them immediately in a strainer. Dry the strawberries on absorbent paper. The strawberries will start to lose color and flavor if they sit in the water too long. Hull the strawberries with a small knife. First remove the leaves from the green calyx without disturbing the stem. Using the tip of the knife, remove a small cone of white pulp around the stem. Trim any soft or spoiled parts from the berry and cut it into the size required for the recipe. CLOSE

Strawberries, part of the rose family, are perennial plants. Other fruits in this family include raspberries, blackberries, peaches, and apples. The modern strawberry is a hybrid that resulted by the chance cross pollination, in eighteenth-century Europe, of two native American strawberries — the Virginia “scarlet” strawberry of Eastern North American and the Chilean strawberry found up-and-down along the whole Pacific Coast — which had been collected in the New World by early explorers. In France, Jean de La Quintinie, gardener to Louis XIV, is credited with growing the Virginia-Chilean hybrid at the start of the eighteenth century, but he probably was not the first. The Chilean strawberry contributed size and firmness to the new fruit while the Virginia strawberry contributed flavor and productivity.1      The Larousse Gastronomique lists 17 varieties of cultivated strawberries, or fraises, of various shapes and sizes that grow in the different regions of France. In addition, many of the strawberries sold in France are imported from Spain where the growing season is longer. Also available are the small wood strawberries, or fraises des bois, found in the wild. Although native to France, 11 varieties of these strawberries can be found in North America and other parts of the world.2 CLOSE 1. EB Poling, Proceedings: 1999 Arkansas Strawberry Plasticulture Workshop. 2. J Robuchon, Larousse Gastronomique, pgs 481-4.

When you purchase strawberries at the store you may think you are buying a type of fruit, but the red “berry” is actually an enlarged flower stem. The little yellow “seeds” covering the outside of the surface of the strawberry are really small, single seed fruits called achenes. Ironically, if a seed inside an achene does produce an offspring, it is unlikely that it will be useful as a fruit-bearing plant. Propagation in strawberries is accomplished by using the runner plants that grow from the shoots the strawberry uses to spread itself throughout the garden. These new plants are genetically equivalent to the original plant. CLOSE

bavarois de fraises au fromage blanc   strawberry and fresh cheese pudding charlotee aux fraises   strawberry charlotte cheesecake aux fraises   strawberry “cheesecake” crèmes chiboust aux fraises et aux amandes   warm strawberry and almond pudding fraises aux fruits d’or   strawberries with golden fruits fraises Romanoff   strawberries and cream gratins de fraises à la brioche   warm strawberries and brioche gratins de fraises orange-poivre   warm strawberries flavored with orange and pepper milk-shake aux fraises   strawberry “milk shake” mousses de fraises à la coriandre   strawberry and cilantro mousse nage de rhubarbe au jus de fraises   rhubarb soup with strawberry juice sirop de fraises   strawberry syrup soufflé glacé aux fraises   frozen strawberry soufflés soupe de fraises au gingembre   strawberry soup with candied ginger soupe de fraises aux épices et olives confites   strawberry soup with spices and candied olives tarte aux fraises   strawberry tart CLOSE