Meatless Monday: A Month of Strawberries

Summer doesn’t begin for nearly a month, but for many Americans, the Memorial Day weekend signifies the beginning of the season. We gather with friends and family, fire up the grills, picnic, and share lots of food, including the first of the summer fruits – the strawberry.

In fact, May has been designated National Strawberry Month for some years now [at least since 1997 which I discovered through a Google search], inspiring festivals, celebrations, and countless articles and sites singing the praises of this delicious fruit. One of the most entertaining strawberry sites I found is one from the U of Illinois Extension Service packed with historical facts, nutritional data, legends and lore, growing tips and recipes. 

Eighty-five percent of the nation’s strawberries come from California, where the fruit is grown year-round. In 2010, over 2 billion pounds of strawberries were harvested in the state, with a value of $2.1 billion. It should be no surprise that the California Strawberry Commission (enacted in 1993) has a comprehensive site promoting the strawberry with details on its economic importance, its health and nutritional benefits, and  its taste and versatility (lots of recipes).

One topic not covered extensively in this site, however, is the use of pesticides in strawberry cultivation. The Environmental Working Group includes strawberries in the Number 3 spot on their “Dirty Dozen” list in their Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce, updated in 2011.

The good news is that since I wrote about this topic in 2010, organic strawberries have become easier to find in supermarkets, including the Elm City Market, and their price has come down.

We’ve been enjoying them at my house all through the month of May. Local varieties are still weeks away, but I just can’t resist the seductive strawberry, especially at such an attractive price.

The new way I’ve discovered to enjoy them is — dessert as real food — fresh strawberries with sweet ricotta “cream.” Here is my recipe, tweaked from a couple of things I found on the internet.

Fresh Strawberries with Sweet Ricotta “Cream”

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups, sliced, fresh strawberries
• 1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese (I use the local Calabro from East Haven, CT)
• 1/8 cup low-fat milk
• 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar 
• 3/8 teaspoon vanilla (I use Baldwin’s made in W. Stockbridge, MA)

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk (or purée) all ingredients  EXCEPT strawberries in a pyrex measuring cup, metal bowl, or other freezer-safe container.
2. Chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir.
4. Keep very cold until serving time. 
5. Place strawberries in two bowls or glasses. Spoon “cream” on top.

This dessert is best if you can have the topping finished as close to serving time as possible. This is a delicious treat without any of the guilt sometimes associated with dessert. By my calculations, based on the nutritional facts for strawberries, low-fat ricotta, and sugar, each serving provides 160% of your vitamin C, 18% of your calcium,  and 8% of your dietary fiber for a mere 142 calories. 

Go ahead, enjoy! This is a perfect dessert to contribute to your next pot luck.

Have a great holiday.

I often blog on food, food issues, or topics related to growing things on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

The Seductive Strawberry

By many accounts, yesterday, May 20, was National Strawberry Picking Day. We are still a few weeks away from being able to pick strawberries in Connecticut, but before too long I’ll be planning a little road trip to pluck some of these beauties.

The strawberry has a truly seductive appearance – a fine shape and a gorgeous color when perfectly ripe. Strawberries are also rich in vitamin C and other compounds with antioxidant capacities. Consumption of strawberries has been shown to lower risk of cancer, age-related macular degeneration, and rheumatoid arthritis, among other ailments.

Since we’re on the subject of fresh strawberries, it seems a good time to share a valuable resource — the Environmental Working Group’s “Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides.” Many of you probably shop for produce the way I do. I try to buy local, organic produce whenever it is available and affordable. But when the organic version can’t be found, or its price is out of sight, I have to make a choice. Do I buy the conventionally-grown product, or do I change my menu?

With the help of this handy pocket-sized guide it is a little easier to make these difficult choices. On the left side is a list of the “Dirty Dozen,” those 12 fruits and vegetables found to contain the most pesticides when conventionally-grown. Strawberries are Number 3. On the right are the “Clean 15,” those fruits and vegetables which contain the least pesticides when conventionally-grown. Buying organic is not as critical for the items in this column. The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit organization founded in 1993 whose mission is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. The guide can be downloaded for free at the group’s site.

In Connecticut there is a great website, www.buyctgrown.com, dedicated to helping potential shoppers locate places to purchase or pick seasonal produce and farm products. At the site you enter what you would like to pick or buy, your location, and the miles you are willing to travel. The results include the distance from your location and phone numbers. If you call ahead, you should be able to find out if the crop is pesticide-free. And if it is not, what pesticide has been applied and in what amount. The site will also help you locate caterers, restaurants, CSAs, retailers, and distilleries.

Picking your own is a great activity to do with kids. You can’t beat the price. There is no fresher produce than what you pick on your own.  And there are plenty of easy ways to freeze what you can’t eat right away.

Just be sure to wear your hat and apply sunscreen. And if you don’t have one already, get your hands on a strawberry huller. Such a simple tool. Such a small investment. Processing your harvest will be so much easier.