15 Sweet and Savory Strawberry Recipe Ideas to Enjoy All Summer (2024)

FAQs

What tastes good with strawberries? ›

Balsamic vinegar + orange juice + lime juice — Imagine the dressing on a Strawberry-Spinach Salad, now in snack form. Lemon curd — Why bother baking a whole cake (especially on a hot summer day), when you can just dip strawberries in it? Mascarpone. Crème fraîche — You can't go wrong with strawberries and cream.

An alternative method is to soak the strawberries in a bowl of cold water with 1 teaspoon (5 grams) of salt added into the mixture. Let it rest for 30 minutes then rinse and dry the strawberries. The salting process will draw out the natural sweetness within the fruit.

Sun it is that develops sugar levels in the berries – so make sure your plants get lots, and lots of it.

Because coffee grounds are slightly acidic, they are ideal for strawberries and other plants that prefer a slightly acidic soil. Although coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, they should not be used as the only fertiliser for strawberries, as they contain hardly any other nutrients.

In addition to mint, you may also consider complementary herbs such as lavender, tarragon, rosemary, angelica, fennel and lemon grass. Not an herb or a spice, per se, but balsamic vinegar is traditional with strawberries.

Naturally sweet, strawberries can be used to balance out otherwise savoury dishes, giving a berry boost to everything from gazpacho to salsa.

Adding Epsom salt to your fruits and vegetables soil will mean sweeter fruit and delicious vegetables. The Epsom salt will help to boost the chlorophyll levels in your fruit and nut trees. The more chlorophyl means more energy, and more energy means sweeter fruit.

Sugar maceration is well-suited for strawberries because its hygroscopic properties draw out the water in the berries, creating a syrupy juice. As the berries macerate, they gently collapse, forming a jammy consistency that is ideal for spooning over ice cream, yogurt, or cake.

Instead of sugar and cream try serving your strawberries with balsamic vinegar or basil: simple, but delicious – these pairings are becoming modern classics.

Why should you soak strawberries before eating? ›

Store-bought berries usually look clean and ready to eat, but little critters might be hiding in them. Soaking strawberries in a salt water bath can draw out bugs and other contaminants. Fill a bowl with about two cups of warm water and two tablespoons of salt.

The balance of sweetness and acidity is very important to the taste of a strawberry. As strawberries ripen, their sugar content rises from about 5% in unripe green fruit to 6–9% on ripening. At the same time, the acidity decreases, meaning ripe strawberries taste much sweeter.

A mixture of vinegar and water can destroy harmful bacteria and kill off mold spores on the strawberries. Vinegar gives berries a thorough cleaning and can get rid of any dirt or little bugs that may be on them. Soaking your berries in vinegar won't affect how they taste.

By simply adding sugar to cut the berries, they'll become juicer and sweeter, and their flavor will intensify. The whole process works quickly, but you do need to allot for a bit of time as they take about half an hour to an hour to macerate.