strawberry overload

June 4, 2005 1:31 PM

I have 20 pounds of perfectly ripe strawberries, and I need to use as many as possible in the next three days. I've already eaten a couple pounds, but cannot finish them that way. Any leftovers will go into jam, but I'd rather make other things. Ideas?
posted by Nothing to food & drink (34 comments total)

Early summer porch-party with strawberry shotrcake for all of your closest friends?
posted by ArsncHeart at 1:37 PM on June 4, 2005

Dry them.

Blend them with yoghurt and freeze.

Blend them with water and ferment.

Bake them in a pie.
posted by randomstriker at 1:42 PM on June 4, 2005

Pie!
posted by jennyjenny at 1:43 PM on June 4, 2005

Strawberry flan
Strawberry Cheesecake
Rent a chocolate fountain and get all your friends around tomorow
posted by ajbattrick at 1:45 PM on June 4, 2005

Puree, add sugar if necessary, maybe some lime juice, and freeze in those plastic freezer jam containers. Instant daiquiri or margarita mix.
posted by peep at 1:46 PM on June 4, 2005

fresh strawberry juice. liquidise, add some orange juice/water/sugar to taste.
posted by andrew cooke at 1:47 PM on June 4, 2005

Slice them & toss them with arugula or another salad green, some walnuts, some feta cheese, some balsamic vinegar, and a touch of olive oil. Mmmmmmm.
posted by equipoise at 1:56 PM on June 4, 2005

Just ask Alton.
posted by uncleozzy at 2:08 PM on June 4, 2005

Freeze a few pounds for use in smoothies.
posted by letitrain at 2:36 PM on June 4, 2005

If you're freezing them, spread them out on a cookie sheet in the freezer so that they aren't touching. Once they're frozen, you can toss them in a bag together. If you skip the cookie-sheet step, they'll freeze together in one congealed glob.
posted by equipoise at 2:43 PM on June 4, 2005

Don't freeze them with a regular freezer. When you thaw them they'll get all mushy and cooked-tasting and lose a lot of liquid.

On preview, what uncleozzy/Alton Brown said.
posted by rxrfrx at 3:13 PM on June 4, 2005

Pavlova: bed of merinque, strawberries, whipped cream. Yum!
posted by cbrody at 3:40 PM on June 4, 2005

How about making some fruit roll ups?
posted by cali at 3:48 PM on June 4, 2005

If you're going to freeze for smoothies, hull them first.
posted by abbyladybug at 4:11 PM on June 4, 2005

Strawberry Ice Cream!!
Strawberry Pizza??

posted by HyperBlue at 4:18 PM on June 4, 2005

Here's a strawberry liqueur recipe; I'm sure there are many more out there.
posted by gimonca at 4:22 PM on June 4, 2005

Strawberry Rhubarb pie. OMG, you've never tasted something so good. Except, maybe, really smokin' fine chocolate.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:41 PM on June 4, 2005

A second for strawberry-rhubarb pie. There is nothing, and I mean nothing as fine as strawberry-rhubarb pie.
posted by schroedinger at 5:02 PM on June 4, 2005

An easy warm weather dessert I just made yesterday: Strawberries and cream. Use whipping cream (usually found by the milk at your local supermarket). Whip with electric mixer or by hand with a whisk until thick. Add sugar and chopped strawberries.
posted by crack at 5:08 PM on June 4, 2005

Strawberry bread. Email me for the recipe if you're interested.
posted by LittleMissCranky at 5:12 PM on June 4, 2005

we freeze about 20 pounds each of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries every year. Around November they start getting very, very nice.

Chop them in half, slice off the stem, put them on a cookiesheet, and freeze them as fast as possible. Then seal them in as air-tight containers as possible & put them in a good freezer.

Also, when tomatoes start hitting, dried tomatoes are one of my favorite things in the world. Slice Roma tomatoes (best variety by far for freezing) thinly, dry them in a food dryer, then bag them up & freeze them.
posted by devilsbrigade at 5:23 PM on June 4, 2005

Puree, strain, pour into popsicle molds. Freeze. Yummy.
posted by FredFeral at 5:40 PM on June 4, 2005

Liquor infusion? Maybe some sangria?
posted by box at 6:11 PM on June 4, 2005

My aunt used to (and probably still does) make strawberry tapioca pudding. I used to inhale the stuff!
posted by sillygit at 7:07 PM on June 4, 2005

Put black pepper on your strawberries (and cream?) Mmm.

Strawberry daquiris.

Freezer jam. Puree and add a bit of candied pineapple. Gels up nicely. Presumably, toss in freezer to preserve it (no need to can it).

Strawberry chicken. Blueberries work, strawberries should.

Duck a l'fraise.

suddenly i'm uncommonly proud to have not needed to look up a foreign word
posted by five fresh fish at 7:14 PM on June 4, 2005

Strawberry liqueur! Now that's the gift that keeps on giving. Even better, whip up some strawberry sherbert or gelato (if you have an ice cream maker). I made some of the latter tonight with some fresh, ripe berries...pure bliss.
posted by Vervain at 9:45 PM on June 4, 2005

One of my favorite strawberry related dishes is the good old strawberries + whipped cream. I prefer homemade whipped cream, made in the following manner:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla

If you have an electric beater, put this all in a bowl, mix and then go at it on low. If you don't, you can try doing it in the blender, but this requires a significant amount of timing as too much beating makes the cream rather unappetizing.

If you don't want to go through all the trouble, just get some store-bought whipped cream, because it's still a great dish.
posted by invitapriore at 10:22 PM on June 4, 2005

One word:

Shortcake
posted by Jon-o at 11:06 PM on June 4, 2005

Call lots of hot women home and feed them chocolate-dipped strawberries and cream. By hand.
posted by madman at 11:13 PM on June 4, 2005

You can also freeze strawberries by washing them, taking off the green nib, cutting them in half (1/4 for the big ones) and putting them in a freezer bag with about 1/4 cup white sugar to every two cups strawberries. They freeze up beautifully and make their own yummy sauce. Perfect for going over icecream or biscuits for strawberry shortcake.
posted by jb at 11:16 PM on June 4, 2005

Donate some to your local soup kitchen.
posted by mediareport at 8:48 AM on June 5, 2005

Got neighbors? Send some over.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:24 AM on June 5, 2005

Strawberry shortcake: Make shortcake using Bisquick; recipe's on the label.
slice shortcake in half.
cover the bottom 1/2 liberally with strawberries that have been sliced, sugared and have given up some juice.
layer in some slightly softened vanilla ice cream.
cover w/ the top 1/2 of the shortcake.
more berries.
whipped cream.
sinfully delicious

I like berries dipped in yogurt that's been sweetened with dark brown sugar.

Freeze whole/hulled, as above, or hull, puree and freeze them with just a bit of sugar. You'll have fresh berries for smoothies (and margaritas) all winter.

I can vouch for the fresh strawberry pie. I used to live in a town with a Big Boy, and the pie is one of the few things I miss.
posted by theora55 at 12:15 PM on June 5, 2005

If I had 20 lbs of fresh ripe strawberries, I'd consider it grounds for purchase of an ice-cream maker.
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:17 AM on June 6, 2005