Farmers’ markets are amazing. They’re the kind of place you can find delicious, fresh produce straight out of the fields while also supporting your local economy and meeting a whole bunch of very interesting people.
Farmers’ markets are also a wonderful place to find incredibly good deals and if you’re anything like me, from time to time you’ll end up with way too much to be practical.
Last time it was strawberries. I left the market with crates of them and one question in my mind. "What to make with strawberries?"
Knowing full well I needed to get really creative if I wanted to save them from going to waste… so I did!
Which is why I now present you with this list of 5 Delicious Ways to Use Strawberries and the best way to store strawberries by freezing them.
- Related article: Best Blender For Green Smoothies
More...
What To Make With Strawberries?
1. Strawberry Key Lime Water
If you’re into detox challenges, clean eating, trying to cut out sugary drinks from your diet or you just like fruit infused drinks then this little “recipe” is for you.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries
- Lemons
- Fresh water
Instructions:
1. Wash your fruit.
2. Slice your strawberries and lemons.
3. Place sliced fruit in the container of your choice.
4. Fill with water and leave in the fridge overnight.
- The amount of fruit you use is entirely up to you so try as many different combinations as you can until you find your sweet spot.
2. Strawberry Salsa
If you’ve ever made “pico de gallo” then you already know the basics for this delicious sweet and savory salsa. If not, you should go try “pico de gallo” and then you should come back to follow this short recipe.
Ingredients:
- Strawberries ( 1 pint)
- 1 Jalapeño
- Red onion (1/2 cup)
- Cilantro (2/3 cups)
- Lime (2 tbsp)
Instructions:
1- Wash your fruit and produce
2- Finely dice all the ingredients, except for the lime.
3- Toss all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them, careful not to squash the strawberries.
4- Add lime juice and keep mixing, almost like tossing a salad.
5- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- If you want a spicier salsa, use more jalapeños. If you want something sweeter, use more strawberries. It’s that easy.
- You can eat this with tortilla chips or you can put it in tacos or other dishes. The limit is your creativity!
3. Strawberry Gin
This one is for the grown-ups and, as such, it takes some preparation.
In fact, if you start right now you’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor in three weeks… yes, three whole weeks.
BUT I promise you this strawberry gin is not only easy to make but also delicious…so let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ of the Gin of your preference, as long as it has no added flavors.
- 15 oz strawberries
- ½ Cup of caster sugar
Instructions:
1. Mix the gin, the strawberries and the sugar in a large glass container that you can cover.
2. Cover the container and place in the fridge.
3. Leave it there for 3 weeks and stir the ingredients every 2 days.
4. When it’s time to serve, use a strainer to catch all the strawberry bits.
- As you can imagine, you can alter this recipe to make this drink sweeter or to make it pack more of a punch by altering the quantity of the ingredients.
4. Strawberries in Pepper Syrup
This sounds like a fascinating combination, doesn’t it?
Believe it or not, this recipe is actually a dessert, albeit a slightly spicy one.
Curious? Well keep on reading!
Ingredients:
- 2 limes
- ½ Cup of caster sugar.
- 5 medium sized Indian peppers (Or 2 tsp of crushed black peppercorns)
- 16 oz of Strawberries
- Vanilla, Yoghurt or Coconut Ice cream to serve.
Instructions:
1. With the help of a peeler, peel the zest from one of the limes into long strips.
2. Shave the white from the zest peels and put them in a pan.
3. Squeeze both limes into the pan, add 3 tbsp of fresh water, ½ of caster sugar and the peppercorn (be it whole or the crushed ones)
4. Heat in low heat until the sugar dissolves and the water boils.
5. Remove the whole peppercorns (if you used them) from the mix.
6. Slice your strawberries in half and spread on a deep dish.
7. Pour the syrup on the strawberries while still hot and allow it to cool.
From here on, you decide what to do; You can either serve on ice cream scoops or you can put the dish next to the ice cream and let your guests top their ice cream with as much (or as little) of the syrup as they want.
- Don’t forget to warn your guests about the pepper, as some people are allergic to this particular kind.
5. Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Who said salads had to be boring?
This delicious and colorful salad challenges all you know about salads by waving goodbye to lettuce and adding fruit!
Ingredients:
- 3 bunches of spinach.
- 4 cups of strawberries.
- ¼ cup of distilled white vinegar
- ½ cup of olive oil
- ½ cup of sugar
Instructions:
1. Wash your spinach, pat dry and break it into bite-size bits. You can do this with your hands or a knife.
2. Wash your strawberries, remove the greens and slice your strawberries.
3. Toss the strawberries and the spinach together using a large bowl.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the rest of the ingredients.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to mix.
- While the salad is delicious enough on its own, you can always enhance the flavor with the help of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, almonds and even feta cheese added to taste.
- If you feel like adding some protein, chop some grilled chicken breast and mix it with all the ingredients. It’s delicious!
- If after those 5 delicious recipes you still don’t know what to do with extra strawberries then there’s a very easy solution… Freeze them!
How to Freeze Strawberries?
- While there are many ways of doing this an everyone has their favorite,this is by far the simplest:
1- Wash the strawberries and pat them dry.
2- Remove the greens.
3- Place the strawberries into freezer safe bags or plastic containers.
4- Place them in the freezer and use within two months.
- If you don’t like the idea of your strawberries freezing together here’s something else you can do:
1- Instead of putting the strawberries in the bag straight away, line them in a cookie sheet covered in waxed paper.
2- Freeze the strawberries.
3- Once frozen, take them out and place them in freezer safe bags.
4- Place the freezer safe bags in the freezer and use within two months.
What did you think of this article? Do you know another easy and short recipe that uses strawberries? Have you tried any of these recipes?
Leave a comment! I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Thank you for reading. Don’t forget to share if you found this article useful!