Strawberry Sunday
Apr 27th, 2008 by Marilyn
Strawberries are healthy.
Chocolate - despite every effort to pump its nutritional value - is not.
Strawberries, by themselves, don’t do it for me; out of season, they’re crunchy and flavorless, and at their soft, sweet peak they fall into my mushy fruit category. No can do.
But…put them together?
Now I’m interested.
Most people hold a chocolate-glazed strawberry like they’ve been given a puppy. I’ve brought complicated, lovely gateaux to dinners that got less shock and awe than a plate of dipped berries, and I used to resent this, enormously, until I came to realize that people really wanted it, they wanted that basic treat. They wanted it more than my grand-mocha-marnier-genoise-whatever, and in earlier days, this threw me.
My mentor, a kind and brilliant Corsican pastry chef, would call something like dipped strawberries easy for the hobby cooks, and easy was a dirty word. This from the man who sculpted white chocolate one hour and ate raw radishes the next. He whipped meringue by hand but brought his wife’s beef stew for lunch, and after twins arrived, would sneak through Taco Bell. He started teaching us shortcuts - good taste can always be made in good time.
By now I’ve made peace with small pleasures, too - who am I to argue with juicy stains and chocolate lips? Dipped strawberries remind me of the best one-pot dinners, easy to do, so easy on the eyes, and even easier to eat.
Beautiful! Love the Shaw. I pet mine daily.
oh lordy, marilyn. i so wish you lived down the street because i would be at your door begging for one–or 10!!–of those!
Recipe for finding real strawberries (real strawberries do not even need to be dipped in chocolate):
1) Wait until third week in May through end June
2) Catch a plane to London, England
3) Get on First Great Western train to Taunton, Somerset
4) Take taxi from train to nearest PYO (pick your own farm)
5) Select ripest strawberries by sweet strawberry scent. Eat as many as you like, put others in basket
6) Weigh strawberries in basket, pay and leave
7) Consume remainder of strawberries before catching plane home, replete but sadly aware you will not taste another strawberry like these outside of SW England
Sigh
It amazes me too.. I’ve brought dipped strawberries to small events, and people just go crazy - I want tell them.. People! It’s just NOT that difficult!! A friend of mine showed me how to make Cheesecake (chocolate dipped) Lollies - they are fun! And, another thing that people think is just amazing..
Thanks for the directions! Strawberries that perfect don’t need a thing - but chocolate never hurts. And Amy, I have finally come to accept - and appreciate - that the most enjoyable things are often the easiest. Who knew?
The first photo is great! I can hear the water trickle over the berry.
Those berries look great. My favorite mail in office gift is Shari’s Berries.
Oh, you HAVE to find real strawberries. The kind in the store are just not worth eating!
Might arrive at the Farmer’s Market in late June, tiny little buttons with green caps trapped in bright green baskets.