Purely and simply arranged on a plate – they already make a table decoration. Strawberries are a member of the rose family and have been cultivated in (mostly) south Europe for centuries. They were an indispensable part of a festively decorated table for ancient Greeks and Romans. Their beautiful external appearance and their unique fragrance and flavour have made the little red fruit the king of the berries.

The Garden Strawberry with large fruit, as we know them today, came about over 200 years ago in America by crossing the small Virginia Strawberry with the large Chilean Strawberry.
Over 30 different varieties have been bred, early and late maturing, small and large. They have names such as Senga Sengana, Elsanta, Chandler, Gariguette, Elvira, Gorella and Mieze Schindler. Wild wood strawberries are something very special: tiny, sweet as sugar and with an indescribable aroma.

The best time for strawberries is of course in midsummer, when the local fruit is put up for sale only two to three days after being harvested. The patience the strawberry aficionado has to muster during the colder months is then rewarded by mouth-watering berries that no greenhouse products can compete with.

Upon arrival at home in the kitchen they should be handled carefully: Preferably rinsed cold in a colander and dried on a kitchen towel. If the contact with water lasts too long there is a risk that the aroma of the strawberries will be diluted. Purists do without water entirely and carefully wipe off the fruit with a dry cloth.

One thing that can be said for this fruit bursting with vitamins is that a good portion of the harvest cannot be prepared because it mysteriously disappears from the punnet before the cook turns her thoughts to a recipe. Nevertheless, there are, beyond classical cuisine and marvellous jam, endless possibilities for using them: Finely marinated, strawberries go well in a quark soufflé, pureed and with mint they are the basis for exquisite drinks. They go well with fresh and aromatic cheese, make the perfect starter to a midsummer menu as a light strawberry-peach soup and delight children by lending a red colour to a sweet noodle gratin.

They also delight grown-ups when a strawberry daiquiri is mixed or served with fruit in rum. The fruit amazes as strawberry salad in aspic with a few basil leaves, competes with apricot dumpling as strawberry dumplings, makes an accompaniment to flash-fried meat as strawberry chutney and turns any white wine vinegar into a fine strawberry vinegar by its simple presence. You really can’t ask more of such a small fruit.

A short selection of recipes:

Fried asparagus with balsamic vinegar, chicken breast and strawberries
Salad of chicory, oranges and strawberries
Vanilla soufflé