Eating Floyd: Strawberry Feasting Season has Commenced!

The first of the new crop of local strawberries made it's appearance this past week!  It's time to indulge, indulge some more, and preserve the rest for off-season indulging.  I had my first bowl of Strawberry Shortcake after dinner last night.  It tasted like it always does - nostalgic, with memories of Mom making the once a year, terribly bad for us but incredibly yummy dinner of fried potatoes and shortcake, remembering my barely a toddler-aged son sitting between rows of strawberry plants happily stuffing his face while I picked, and my first garnet row of strawberry jam jars gleaming on the counter.

At the same time strawberries are the harbinger of good things to come, a promise that summer's bounty is on its way and the dark days are over.

I  think there's strawberry pie in my future.  Oh! And that looks like ice cream too!

Preservation links after the jump

Preserving Floyd: Strawberries! Part II Whole Strawberries in Vanilla Syrup

Whole Strawberries in Vanilla Syrup is a very versatile preserve.  We mix it into plain yogurt, drizzle it over ice cream, waffles and pancakes, use it as an ingredient in homemade strawberry ice cream, top pound cakes and shortcakes, and serve it with chevre, fontainbleu, or brie.  I usually make 3-4 pints but we ran out early this past winter so this year I'm upping it to 6 pints.