the marriage of the strawberry and the fig...

Early last week, a California friend sent me several pounds of bright red fragrant fresh organic Strawberries.
I had sliced up many for my morning cereal or yogurt during the week.
But there were still so many pounds remaining…

I made a dozen jars of strawberry preserves for gifts and for my use.
I froze several pounds.
I dehydrated many more pounds and turned some into “strawberry powder” in the same way I made “tomato powder” in the autumn.
(For directions, please see my blog post on tomato powder).

I wanted to find a way to extend the fresh life of these gorgeous berries in a way that they would be available for me to use each day.
Strawberries are high in vitamin C, manganese and dietary fiber.
There also have a high rate of antioxidant power.

This morning, I sliced a few ripe strawberries to top my toasted bread that I first smeared with a bit of my favorite Orange-Fig Preserves from Croatia. This was such a surprisingly delicious combination, I thought about how I could use this preserve-fresh strawberry marriage to extend the life of the remaining fresh strawberries.

I experimented a little and came upon this simple method.

the marriage of the strawberry and the fig

ingredients

1 lb fresh Strawberries cleaned and sliced

¼ cup Dalmatia Brand Orange-Fig Preserves

¼ cup Confiture Figure (French Fig Preserves)
(For the above, you can substitute ½ cup of any good quality
Fig Preserves with ½ teaspoon of fresh Orange zest)

½ Teaspoon fresh Lemon Juice

directions

Rinse the berries and pat dry immediately.

Remove stems and leaves and cut in ½” slices.

Sprinkle with a small but of lemon juice over the cut berries.

Put the Fig Preserves (and the Orange Zest if using Fig Preserves without oranges) in a microwave-proof bowl.

Microwave the preserves for 20 seconds, stir and repeat.

Then zap and stir at 20-second intervals until the preserves just barely bubbles a bit on the edges.

Carefully remove from the microwave and stir the melted preserves for 1or 2 minutes to cool.
(You don’t want to cook the berries…!)

Add the sliced berries a handful at a time and stir to coat.

When cool, store in a airtight container in the chill chest.
They will last at least a week. (Mine have retained a lovely fresh texture for 5 days so far.)

This mixture retains the fresh mouth feel of the strawberry, the hint of acidity from the orange bring a brightness, the fig preserves add a lovely crunchy mouth-feel and the finish has an undercurrent of toasted caramel.
Figs and strawberries are the perfect pair…a marriage made in culinary heaven.

This concoction is wonderful on cereal, in yogurt, on toast or waffles or pancakes. It adds a new dimension when served with cheese (I especially enjoyed it with a slice of the Normandie Camembert that I had in hand).
It is also lovely drizzled over Vanilla ice cream, elevating a simple everyday dessert to the level of a special occasion dessert.

When you have strawberries in season in your neck of the woods.
I hope you will think about trying this method of extending the freshness of your treasure trove of strawberries.