Wonderful strawberries

Does anything herald the coming of summer more clearly than the sight of fresh strawberries piled high on a market stall, the sun gently warming the fruit and releasing its musky perfume?

The large, bright red fruit we know today has developed over the centuries from the tiny wild fragrant fruit that grows all over Europe and other temperate areas. The wild or alpine strawberry, fraise des bois, is still to be found growing on wooded banks and enjoyed for its warm musky flavour. Sweet, white vanilla-flavoured strawberries are also occasionally available.

Cultivated strawberries come in many different varieties: small, large, globular, conical, some with a neck, some with a concave top, some with more hairs and seeds than others, some hollow, some dense and with varying degrees of colour.

Look for fruit that is bright, firm and unblemished with a fresh green calyx and ideally eat it on the same day.

If you wash the fruit, do so very quickly and before you remove the calyx, otherwise water will get into the fruit and destroy the flavour.

Eat strawberries as they come, or piled in a pre-baked pie shell or on a sponge base. Strawberries are served in France with crème fraîche, or in red Bordeaux wine. In America strawberry shortcake is a favourite dessert, but I do not think their cooked strawberry pies, crisps and cobblers are as successful, as the fruit collapses when cooked, and some of the musky perfume is lost.

In Italy a ricotta-based tart is the perfect foil for the luscious fruit. One of the best desserts I have eaten in a long while was the strawberry cheesecake made by my friend Mary Grace Attard. In England, one of the most traditional of desserts is Eton Mess, a rich mixture of strawberries and cream, to which crushed meringues are sometimes added.

Indeed, a bowl of cream, mascarpone or thick plain yoghurt, and one of light muscovado sugar are the perfect accompaniments for freshly picked, un-hulled strawberries.

But if your strawberries need a little more assistance, I would not cook them, but slice them instead and pour on boiled, then cooled red wine, sweetened with sugar and spiced with orange zest and cinnamon.

This is especially good with vanilla ice cream and meringues. A grinding of black pepper and a sprinkling of sherry vinegar is the Spanish treatment for strawberries, while in Italy balsamic vinegar is used to anoint the fruit.

Also use strawberries for delicious ice creams and sorbets and to make jam. Remember, however, that they are very low in pectin, and it will not set unless you add lemon juice or some other acidic fruit.

I once made jam from Gozo strawberries with left-over rosé wine, which provided the requisite acidity, as well as additional colour and flavour to the jam and was one of the more successful strawberry jams I have made.

Strawberry-flavoured vinegars and liqueurs can be made by infusing your chosen liquid with plenty of strawberries and keeping it in a dark place for several weeks. I use strawberries and balsamico to make an unusual vinaigrette, which is an excellent partner for summer cold cuts, but try it too with cold poached salmon or smoked lampuki.

A salad of sliced smoked chicken, quail, or cooked ham, interleaved with slices of ripe avocado is especially good with this dressing.

Consider strawberries too as a salad ingredient. One of my favourites is Salad Elona, devised in the 1930s by Ambrose Heath and popularised in the 1960s by Harold Wilshaw who included it in his contribution to the famous Reader’s Digest Cookery Year. It is served as an accompaniment to grilled or smoked fish or chicken or with goat’s cheese or ricotta.

To make it, slice strawberries and cucumber and interleave them on a flat plate. Before serving add freshly ground black pepper, a sprinkle of Gozo sea salt and a balsamic or sherry vinegar dressing. Strawberries and avocado are a good combination.