Glen Arbor Sun

Although my family lived in a small suburb of Detroit, where houses sat on lots a fraction of the size of a baseball diamond, my parents always grew strawberries. (At 85, they still have a small patch.) In fact, my earliest memories include awakening on sweet summer mornings in the mid-50’s to a bowl of Rice Krispies with milk and freshly picked strawberries. My mother sliced them into red hearts that would pinken my milk and make it all the more desirable.

It was here that my flavor instincts revealed themselves. My brother liked to fish his strawberries out of the milk and eat them first. Foolish heathen. He’d then be forced to eat the cereal naked. I delighted in the taste of these three substances together on my spoon. I thought that the intermingling and contrasts of the flavors and textures—the sweet-tartness of the berries, the creaminess of the whole milk and the crispy snap of the cereal—were a perfect taste and textural balance. I discovered the combination again when I ate my first strawberry shortcake. Today, simple but powerful combinations of flavors like this remain my biggest culinary delight.

Do you find yourself complaining that you are too busy to cook? The pure flavor of the Buddhist’s wild strawberry is a perfect metaphor for slowing to enjoy life. (After all, strawberries are in the rose family.) Slow and simplify your life by purchasing locally grown food and taking the time to really taste it. Fresh food that hasn’t been shipped from elsewhere is filled with big flavor; it needs no elaborate kitchen trickery—just simple flavor combinations.

There are many varieties of strawberry, but only two important types: the firm and almost scentless and tasteless shipping berry and the local tender, big flavored berry. Michigan strawberries might seem homely compared to California imports, but the California berries are mostly just a pretty face. You’ll recognize our own berries before you see them by their hypnotic perfume. Local berries share their rose brethren’s intense fragrance—a rich aroma that fills your senses. Let it entice you past the boxes of shapely California berries to buy our ripe, red, robust Michigan berries. If you want to know where to buy local (and organic) produce, check out the Michigan Land Use Institute’s website for contact information and local farmers: www.LocalDifference.org.

Search out local berries picked the morning you buy them. As a Zen Buddhist or my mother would tell you, local strawberries might last a week, but their flavor and texture are never better than the moment they are picked.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Serves 4 to 6

Topping
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 pound unsalted butter, diced

Fruit
1 pound trimmed rhubarb (no leaves), diced
1 pound hulled strawberries, sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350F. Place the topping ingredients into a food processor or a bowl and cut in the butter with small pulses or with a knife until it is in small pea-sized pieces.

Set the topping aside. Toss the strawberries and rhubarb with sugar, flour and cinnamon.

Pour the fruit mixture into a 9-inch glass pie dish set on a sheet pan. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit. Bake the crisp until the fruit is bubbly and tender and the topping is brown, about 40 minutes. Let it cool to warm before serving and top with Shetler’s whipped cream or Moomer’s vanilla ice cream.

June is peak Michigan strawberry time but you can serve both of these biscuits with local fresh fruit like blueberries or peaches any time of the year. Make a double recipe and freeze them. In the midst of a dessert panic, haul them out and slather them with berries. I’m partial to organic berries from Wares Farm. I slice and mix these juicy gems with a little sugar for a minimum of 30 minutes, to a maximum of overnight.

Fluffy Shortcake Biscuits
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
About 6 large biscuits

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted cold butter, cut up
3/4 to 1 cup (more as needed) whipping cream or whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Strawberries with a little sugar or maple syrup
Shetler’s whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 400F. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or food processor. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or in the food processor with short bursts. Dump the mixture into a bowl if you are using the food processor. Stir in the cream (or milk) and vanilla lightly with a fork until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. The lesser amount will produce a rollable shortcake dough that you can cut with a round cutter. The larger amount of cream will produce a droppable biscuit.

If you want to roll the dough, turn it onto a lightly floured counter and knead gently and quickly, making 8 to 10 folds. Roll it out with a rolling pin to the desired thickness and cut out with cutters dipped in flour. Place them on a sheet pan. If you decide to drop the biscuits, drop them by spoonfuls onto a sheet pan, evenly spaced. Bake the shortcakes until they begin to color, about 20 to 30 minutes. Serve the biscuits warm, split in half with loads of berries and whipped cream.

Chocolate Shortcake Biscuits
6 to 8 shortcakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted cold butter, cut up
1/2 cup or more semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped chunks of dark chocolate
1 to 1 1/2 cup (more as needed) whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or food processor. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or in the food processor with short bursts. Dump the mixture into a bowl if you are using the food processor. Fold in the chocolate chips or chunks. Stir in the cream (or milk) lightly with a fork until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened.

Drop the biscuits onto a sheet pan evenly spaced. Bake them until they begin to color, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve the biscuits warm, split in half with loads of berries and whipped cream.

Enjoy local fruit all year long—wash, hull and freeze berries in plastic baggies. Then you can use them for smoothies. Smoothies are a great way to start a summer day. If you have a digestive or drinking problem, the addition of kudzu in this drink might help. A Chinese study of almost 300 alcoholics found that consumption of kudzu reduces alcohol cravings and, after a month of daily intake, 80 percent no longer craved alcohol. You can add or substitute a tablespoon of whey protein for more of a boost.

Strawberry Kudzu Smoothie
Adapted from Tonics by Robert A. Barnett
Yields almost 2 cups

1 heaping teaspoon crushed kudzu (available at Oryana)
1/2 cup milk or soy milk
1 cup hulled and washed strawberries (frozen or fresh)
1/4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon maple syrup, to taste
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together the kudzu and milk until the kudzu is dissolved. Pour the strawberries, yogurt and a little of the maple syrup into a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Scrape the kudzu-milk mixture and the vanilla into the fruit. Taste the smoothie and add more sweetener if you like.

This fruit granita is an adult version of a popsicle. You can boost the flavor by substituting fruit juice for the water (but take care with the sugar). Simplify this even further by pureeing frozen berries with a little sugar and fresh lemon juice. You’ll find the granita quite refreshing on a hot summer day. Make it early (4 to 5 hours before) in the day for dinner.

Strawberry Granita
Adapted from Delia Smith’s Summer Collection
Serves 8

4 heaping cups ripe strawberries, rinsed and hulled
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Blend the berries to a puree in a food processor or blender, add the sugar and puree, blend again and then the water and lemon juice. Puree this mixture until well mixed.

To make this a fine-textured granita, set a fine-meshed strainer/sieve over a bowl and pour the strawberry puree into it. Scrape the purée through the sieve. Pour the purée into a 8 inch by 8 inch glass baking dish and freeze for two hours. The mixture will start to freeze around the edges. Mix the frozen parts into the unfrozen and freeze the mix again for another hour. Mix again and freeze for another hour and mix a last time. You should have a frozen snow of ice crystals, ready to serve. It will remain at this stage in the freezer for about 3 hours but will freeze hard after that.

Serve in glasses so you may show off the wonderful strawberry color