Depending on where you live, you might see strawberries as a spring thing. But here in New Jersey, I mark the appearance of local strawberries as the start of summer fruit season. It won’t be long now before the farmers market stalls are flooded with raspberries, cherries, blueberries, and then (my favorite!) peaches and nectarines.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s get back to strawberries, which are popping up all over the place in those cute little green boxes and baskets. Usually when I go to the market, I’m tempted to buy a ton of them—after all, the season isn’t very long, and I want to enjoy it while it lasts!

Quite unfortunately, the seasonal availability of strawberries is a lot like a box of berries’ lifespan—short. Case in point: yesterday morning I was slicing up some fresh strawberries to accompany my morning porridge. I noticed I had about two servings’ worth of berries, but since I was the only one eating them, the rest would have to wait til tomorrow. When I came back this morning, however, each of my remaining strawberries had grown their own little white fur coat of mold.

The moral of the story, of course, is not to buy less local strawberries. Instead, just eat them faster! If you really get tired of having the plain old berries, try one of these ideas:

• A spinach salad with sliced strawberries
• Strawberry compote served warm over vanilla ice cream
• Chocolate-covered strawberries (getting fancy!)
• Homemade strawberry jam
• A strawberry-pickle smoothie

Just kidding about the last one! What are your favorite ways to eat strawberries?

-Marygrace, KIWI Staff Writer