Bright and early this morning, I headed out into the country with my brother and his girlfriend in search of berries. The sun was up, the weather was warm, and it was rumoured that strawberries and raspberries were out there, just waiting for us to come and pick them. We came home with scads of both, particularly strawberries, and got to enjoy a beautiful day out in the fields – a good morning’s work!
Now, I am making absurd quantities of jam (pictures to follow tomorrow), after which I will still have mountains of strawberries left over. If you have any stellar recipes for strawberries, now would be the time to pass them on!
The Captive Reader 
I can’t think of picking strawberries (we had a strawberry patch growing up) without thinking of my mom’s strawberry frost:
3 pints hulled fresh strawberries
2 cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups orange juice
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup Grand Marnier, or other orange liqueur
Blend in 30-second batches in blender, turn mixture into large Pyrex. Stir in Grand Marnier, then freeze until partially frozen. Turn into bowl; beat with mixer at medium speed until smooth; return to baking dish and freeze until firm, or pour into popsicle molds.
What a glorious blue sky! It has been such a long time since we have had a sky like that here in UK.
One of my favourite ways of eating strawberries is to layer them in a tall glass with slightly crushed choc-chip cookies and thick fresh cream. Or layer them on a tray and pop in oven till dried then add to scone mix for scrumptious strawberry scones
Put strawberries in large bowl. Funny shady spot outdoors, maybe under a big oak tree. Lie on back in comfortable chair or cushion. Place hat on head to avoid bright light in eyes. Open book, (Yes take book with you). Then while reading, reach into bowl and take one berry at a time and pop into mouth plain. Eat until all strawberries finished or book finished, whichever comes first. Enjoy. If you still have lots and lots left over, send to Australia, we are in winter in Tasmania and would love these now. Not a berry in sight here at the moment. I will turn the favour in summer here. Pam
I’m so sad that there are no strawberries left to pick here. But blueberries & raspberries are ready & plentiful 🙂
Claire, I flash freeze berries in cup quantities. That way they’re available in the winter (or even in the summer) for smoothies. Frozen berries make the best smoothies, imho.
Yum!
Love the picture of all the berries in different containers! 🙂
As for recipes, my favorite berry recipes are always desserts, but for something different, you could try savory-sweet strawberry salad. I don’t have any recipes to share but I know I’ve had them in the past with arugula and balsamic dressing, or alternatively with basil and mozzarella.