Top 10 Easy Fresh Strawberry Dessert Recipes

Come Winter, the market is flooded with strawberries. You get the small or medium-sized wild ones as well as the larger farm-cultivated ones. This gives you a perfect opportunity to brighten up your meals with a dose of fresh strawberries, served in enticingly tasty ways!

When selecting strawberries, choose firm, plump ones that have a deep red colour, and preferably have the bright green cap still on! If there is mould on your strawberry, stay away from it. Go for medium-sized strawberries as they are tastier than the oversized ones. Once you bring the strawberries home, sort the berries to remove those that are moulded or damaged so that they will not contaminate others. Place the remaining strawberries, without washing or removing the stem, in their original container or spread them out on a plate covered with a paper towel, then cover with plastic wrap. Strawberries will keep fresh in the refrigerator for one or two days. Since they are highly perishable, buy only the required amount.

You can enjoy the strawberries just plain or use them to make absolutely brilliant desserts like the Strawberry Tart, Fresh Strawberry Ice -cream or Strawberry Kheer. Strawberry Hearts and Strawberry Mousse are two more elegant desserts that are ideal for any occasion. Keep some Strawberry Sauce handy so you can drizzle it on any dessert! A batch of Strawberry Jam is also handy to perk up your breakfast. Chocolate Coated Strawberries and Oreo Cookie Santa are two ways in which you can bowl over your kids! When you do not have time to make an elaborate dessert, you can still enjoy your strawberries in a simple but enticing way, such as the Strawberry Yoghurt. Remember that when this yummy fruit is in season, a day without feasting on it is a day wasted!
 

How to Freeze your Strawberries

Towards the end of the season, you can buy lots of strawberries and freeze them, to continue using when the fruit is no longer readily available. To freeze strawberries, first gently wash them and pat them dry. You can either remove the cap and stem or leave them intact – this depends upon how you use to plan the strawberries later. Arrange them in a single layer on a flat pan or cookie sheet and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer the berries to a heavy plastic bag and return them to the freezer where they will keep for up to one year. Adding a bit of lemon juice to the berries will help to preserve their colour. While strawberries can be frozen whole, cut or crushed, they will retain a higher level of their Vitamin C content if left whole.